Where You lead me, I will follow...

I love being an auntie :)

2012-01-18T17:34:00.002-06:00

Sigh... long time no blog... again! I've been a pretty lazy blogger these days, but maybe it's because I've had plenty to keep me busy lately! (Where to begin??!!... maybe Christmas?)

We had a good Christmas! Some parts were more eventful than others, but I won't go into details about the events because it's not really something I want to share with the world ;) We enjoyed a quiet Christmas morning (I slept like a little kid on Christmas eve, waking up nearly every hour!) We were able to join the Badens for Christmas via Skype which was so fun! We are getting really excited to see everyone again. (more details on that soon!) Then we opened our gifts to each other and headed downstairs to watch Mom and Dad open their gifts/stockings. Mom made a fantastic turkey dinner for us which we really enjoyed! I still can't believe she went to all that trouble for just the 4 of us!

Then the day before New Year's Eve we drove with Mom and Dad to Regina to have our second Christmas with Melissa and Brad and Kirsten! We had a really good time with them and especially enjoyed playing with Kirsten. She's so fun... and funny! She has a sweet laugh and she's always making us smile. 7/8 months is a fun age :) As you can probably tell by the picture, the highlight of my trip was getting to cuddle and hold Kirsten while we opened gifts "Christmas morning". We got her that book for Christmas and Melissa tells us Kirsten "talks to" all the kids/babies in the book!
Anyway, in my opinion, Kirsten is SUPER cute and I'm a pretty proud auntie!

I'm all finished work at Siloam now so I'm back to my "normal" routine (reading, cleaning, reading, going to the gym, reading, etc...) I had my weigh-in the other day and I've lost 10 lbs since I started Curves. I guess that's encouraging... but I'm discouraged that I don't feel/see any difference at all. (Unless maybe all my clothes have always been too tight and now they're just right or something?!) Obviously I'll keep going for as long as we're here because I know it's good for me to be active. Even though I always struggle to find the motivation to get out the door, I will miss not going. It's been fun to get to know some of the ladies there and build community with them. Everyone's SO friendly there. Actually, at the Christmas service at the Japanese church, I ended up running into one of the ladies who goes to my Curves! Apparently her and her husband have had a connection there for a long time but only visit occasionally. Small world!

So, our big news these days is that I've got a green card interview in Montreal on Feb 6th! We actually have to be there for 8 days because I have to get a medical done (there's only 3 qualified doctors in all of Canada and one is in Montreal so we have to get it done there) before the interview and they need to have 3 business days to process the lab work. We leave on the 30th and come back on Feb 7th. We are looking forward to a relaxing little break and making the most of this trip. If anyone has any recommendations of what we should do, feel free to comment!

That's pretty much all for now. Sorry I don't have more Christmas pictures, but I haven't uploaded them to my computer yet.

Thanks for keeping up with me even though I'm a terrible blogger! Have a great week! :)

I'm here...

2011-12-09T19:46:00.004-06:00

long time no post...
I know, I know... it's been a while! I have a feeling some day I'll regret not having kept up better in the last few months, but oh well. Life's been busy!!

I'm actually working at Siloam again right now over the Christmas season, processing donations. I can't say it's my favorite job in the world, but it's nice to be able to help out in a hectic season and it's also nice to have the extra money this time of year! (I have to say I'm really having fun coming up with ways to bless others in ways we wouldn't normally be able to)

Anyway, working full time leaves little time for blogging (which actually only gives me an excuse for the past couple weeks since I only started working last week!) We've been involved in a lot of church things lately (attending 2 churches keeps you busy!!) I have really enjoyed not working this fall because I've been able to volunteer for a lot of things and spend time with people, particularly having more time to host others.

We've had 2 conversation partners from Japan attending U of W this past semester and we've had so much fun getting to know them. We're sad they're leaving later this month :( (but we'll probably end up doing it again next semester and meet new friends!) We had them over for supper on December 1st and had them help us decorate! It was so much fun... will post pictures some other day!

So... my main reason for posting tonight was to share a video Bobby came across the other day. I don't really know the background of it, but it speaks for itself...

Having volunteered there for 6 weeks, it's hard to watch this without crying! I think we're still processing what we experienced in Japan and some days it's still tough. It feels like a surreal experience, but still very near to our hearts. Funny things trigger my memory/emotions... a few weeks ago I was walking home from the gym crossing the bridge and saw some kind of mattress or mat in the river and it reminded me of the many soaked/destroyed tatami mats we saw amongst piles of debris. It's encouraging how people are still asking us about our time there, allowing us to share what we went through/what Japan is going through. God has blessed us with lots of really amazing, caring friends who have listened to our stories and shared in our pain.

Anyway, I should get going... we're going to watch Elf tonight :)

Hope you're enjoying the excitement of Christmas!

Super funny videos...

2011-11-07T19:08:00.003-06:00

Someone on Facebook posted a link to this video the other day and it cracked me up... especially the last two brothers...

Then today I found the link to the original video of those two brothers... it's even funnier!! (Except for them taking the Lord's name in vain... I don't like that!)

Hope they made you smile! :)

Every Little Bit Counts...

2011-10-12T21:23:00.002-05:00

Right??

I had my first weigh in and measure today and although I must confess I wish it was more encouraging, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't pleased :)

All measurements were down which is encouraging... I've lost 8 inches all over (combo of all measurements) and I lost 1/2 a pound. I actually lost 1% of body fat which is the most encouraging for me since I know that's what I need to decrease the most right now.

I made an appointment on Friday to get set up with Smart Curves which I'm pretty excited about :)

Anyway, I hope this is a sign of good things to come... I was warned that the first month or 2 show the least results... but then again, I know this is a journey and it will take time to get where I should be!

Fall photo shoot :)

2011-09-29T11:41:00.007-05:00

With such beautiful colours, who can resist a good 'ol Fall Photo Shoot?!

Last night, Mom, Dad, Bobby and I all ventured out into the leaves around our apartment and took a few pictures while we still have leaves on the trees.

These are a few of our favorites...

Once again, Happy Fall!

A Facelift...

2011-09-28T14:48:00.002-05:00

Ah, fall :) Can you tell I love it?! (Thought it would be fun to give my blog a new look)

We seem to be having an amazing fall so far! This past weekend and the last three days have been in the mid to high 20's... so gorgeous! The leaves are certainly starting to change colour and everything looks so pretty. We don't have as many reds here in Manitoba as Nova Scotia does, but there's a few of them here and there which really adds to the beauty! Although I don't really like the 'oncoming of winter', I really enjoy fall. Perfect temperatures. Nothing like a cozy sweater and a pair of jeans :)

So... we're doing well in spite of my lack of blogs! We're keeping pretty busy, mostly with hospitality. We love having people over :) And, I'm loving this stage of life right now where I can really have time to be in the kitchen and keep the house clean. I'm not working yet, but will likely look for a day care position sometime soon. (Most likely just 2 or 3 days a week though)

Curves is going well... I really enjoy the workout/environment of Curves. Bobby's been a good motivator for me and hasn't let me skip a day yet! (He drove me when it was raining and when I ran out of time the day we had eye doctor appointments and company coming for supper) No idea if there's been any changes or not though... my first weigh-in is Oct. 12th so we'll see then!

I just realized I posted our summer pictures on Facebook, but never posted the link on here!

So... here's pictures from our time in Toronto; pictures from Casa Loma; pictures from the butterfly conservatory in Niagara on the Lake; pictures from Nova Scotia; and finally, pictures from PEI :) Enjoy!

I guess that's all for now... I need to go clean up the kitchen!
Happy Fall :)

big step...

2011-09-12T14:57:00.002-05:00

Today I went to Curves for the first time... by myself!

I've always been attracted to Curves for many reasons... a gym that's just for women, 30 minute workout, all laid out for you... but I've never really lived close to one before.

Now, we live really close to one! I had been thinking about it all summer but since we were on the go so much, I couldn't do anything about it. When we got home though, I looked online and found out that week's promotion was a free one week pass so I signed up for one!

Today I went in for the first time and I think I'm going to like it. I haven't committed to a membership yet, but I probably will. I had a really fun lady help me out and I had a good time. My aim is to go 5 days this week (to get into a M-F routine). It's a 1/2 hour walk one way so I'm actually getting a double work out with a hour walk everyday too!

I know that I'm not in a healthy state right now and I can't live like this forever so it's time to make some changes... especially after 2 months of traveling and vacation!

I probably have my hopes up too high as far as results go, but I figure that since I've never actually stuck to an exercise routine before (for longer than a week or 2... how sad!) I should see some significant changes... or at least feel them anyway, since exercise makes you feel better!

I'm also going to be more disciplined about what I eat/don't eat. I am a terrible "dieter" (considering I've never actually been on one!) and I have no discipline when it comes to sweet things and food I really like so I know I can do better. Little changes like not taking seconds and actually paying attention to when I'm hungry/full is where I'm going to start with for now (as well as adding more fruit/veggies into our meals).

Anyway, just thought I'd put this on my blog to add some accountability! Feel free to ask me how it's going... and offer tips as well! :) Anyone have any Curves success stories/experiences?

it's been a while!

2011-08-27T10:55:00.002-05:00

well... I don't think our summer could have been any busier!! Right now we're still on vacation in NS, but we leave Tuesday morning. I think both of us are good and ready to be home in our own bed! Don't get me wrong, I've had a wonderful summer and couldn't ask for a better one, but we are getting pretty tired... but can you blame us? 6 weeks in Japan, 6 days at home, 2 weeks in Toronto getting language training, and then 2 weeks with relatives and friends in NS... including a few day trips around the province and a 2 day belated anniversary celebration in PEI?!

Anyway, someday soon I'll have LOADS of pictures to post, but that might be a while! Today is just an effort to communicate and reward my faithful followers! :)

Hope everyone's having a great summer! Looking forward to catching up again soon...

we're home...

2011-07-27T08:41:00.002-05:00

We made it... we're "home"!

Still haven't exactly figured out where home really is yet though... hence the quotation marks!

Hirao/Japan felt like home when we were there and then again, our apartment here feels like home right now! I heard a phrase the other day that suits us pretty well... "home is wherever we're together"! I guess that's pretty much our story!

Anyway, our trip went well... no troubles with immigration which we were VERY thankful for! and our bags arrived in Winnipeg all in one piece so we're pretty happy!

Now we have 5 days to recover/process/rest/readjust... and then we're off again for another month! (2 weeks in Toronto for a language acquisition program, and 2 weeks in NS visiting my family) I think today calls for some unpacking and vegging on the couch!!

Someday I'll post pictures.... but not right now!! Thanks again for your prayers...

Our First Anniversary...

2011-07-20T02:45:00.002-05:00

Hello again!

We've made it safe and sound to Yamaguchi-ken and it feels SO good to be back here. We are staying with our co-workers and were also able to have dinner with our other co-workers last night... and tonight all 6 of us will have dinner to celebrate Bobby and T's birthdays (a day apart).

Last night Bobby and I drove home the way we always used to after English class (by the water) and it felt just like we were dating again! It's fun to reminisce and be "back where we started" :) (Except it's way more fun to be married now!)

We are really looking forward to seeing our friends again... our week is pretty busy, but it's exciting. Yesterday Yumi came to the train station with our co-workers and she was just as excited and enthusiastic as ever! (It was a little hard to be as excited as she was because I was so tired from the past 3 1/2 weeks and our trip down here... but still so good to see her again!)

I feel like I didn't exactly do our experience justice on here, but to be honest I'm pretty exhausted and don't feel like 'closing' that part right now... I just wanted to post some pictures of our anniversary celebration! (Part one... we are planning a trip to PEI while we're in NS next month)

You can find them here! Enjoy :)

PS Happy 8th Anniversary to my sister and her husband! :) We love you guys!!

We're practically famous!

2011-07-15T04:57:00.003-05:00

That's right... we made it into a National newspaper :) how fun!!

Birthday Boy...

2011-07-12T01:00:00.006-05:00

In the midst of our hectic schedule, we've had the opportunity to celebrate two occasions this week... Sunday was our FIRST anniversary and today is Bobby's birthday!!

I remember when Bobby and I were dating, I wrote a birthday tribute to my sister on my blog and Bobby commented that he couldn't wait for his turn to get a birthday tribute... I just realized today that I never did give him one last year because we were on our honeymoon!! So, today I want to do that... I want the world to know just how thankful I am that Bobby Baden entered the world on this day 32 years ago...

I am so blessed. So blessed that I'm not sure where to begin! Bobby and I were good friends before we started dating and it allowed me to see a lot of his true colors. We spent nearly every day together which obviously led to us getting to know each other quite well. Although our relationship wasn't "love at first sight", I'm love the way it blossomed from a friendship into a romantic relationship. Over the months we spent together getting to know one another, I grew to appreciate his character and his deep love of the Lord.
He is one passionate man when it comes to the Lord! He is so good with words and he's able to explain the Truth so well to anyone who's willing to listen (even those who aren't so willing!) I've had the privilege of watching him share his testimony several times, particularly while on this trip, and he's got a powerful story. He's not ashamed of sharing the Gospel and He loves to tell anyone he can about how much God loves them.

He is so gifted with the Japanese language! He began studying in High School and even though he didn't know it then, that was all part of God's hand in his life. He's so smart and learns so quickly! He's good at pretty much everything he tries, and even when he's not so good, he's got a great attitude about it!

His smile is amazing. It makes my heart skip a beat when he smiles and laughs, especially when he's looking at me! He can make me smile when I'm at my worst and I appreciate his great efforts to make me happy when I'm feeling down. He has an incredible ability to make me (and anyone) feel so special and strong even when I'm at my weakest moments. He makes me feel like the most beautiful girl in the world and is very generous with his compliments. He's so encouraging and he's always quick to point out someone's strengths and giftings.

I'm pretty sure everyone who meets Bobby likes him from the start. He's so easy to get along with, and he's incredibly patient with those who are "difficult to love". He's quick to apologize and often apologizes when I don't feel it was necessary for him to. He's very accepting of my flaws, and has been so good at learning to laugh at our differences instead of criticize me for not being like him.

It's be an incredible blessing to have Bobby in my life. He brings strength to my weaknesses in so many ways and he's taught me so much. He's so disciplined, and always faithful to his commitments. He's a hard worker. He is a man of incredible integrity and I deeply admire that.

He's good with people of all ages... from newborns to 82 year old missionaries... he knows how to make people feel loved! I know he's going to make a great dad someday.

He makes me feel so safe and protected... the other night I woke up during a small earthquake and Bobby reached over and squeezed my hand to remind me he was there with me.

It is a privilege to be his wife and I've enjoyed being the "special someone" in his life. It is a real honor to share life with him. I love that he's always willing to talk and spend time with me, and always makes sure that I'm happy. He's so thoughtful of others, always looking out for someone else... usually me.

I really can't say it enough, but I love being married to Bobby. Spending every day with him is an incredible blessing. He brings so much joy to my life and he's everything I'd hoped for in a husband and more. He's so romantic and always looks for creative ways to express his love. I'm so thankful for his love.

I wish that everyone could know and love Bobby as much as I do, but I must confess that I love having an intimate, close relationship with him like no one else does. Sometimes I find it hard to share him with others!

Even though I could go on and on and on about my love for Bobby, I should probably finish this off. I love you with all my heart, Bobby! I hope you know how special you are and how grateful I am that God allowed our paths to cross! You are one amazing man!! Happy Birthday!! :)

What to say??

2011-07-11T23:14:00.002-05:00

Hi there... sorry for the lack of updates in the last week! Our schedule here is pretty hectic and like I told my Mom this morning, every spare minute I get these days all I want to do is sleep, not blog! :)

Things are going well here, but we're very tired. I'm developing a greater sympathy to those who are involved in this type of ministry full time! I've taken today off (Sad how I'm taking Bobby's birthday off but he couldn't because a team needed a Japanese speaker to go with them) :( so I'm able to catch up a little bit today. So much to say, but I don't know that I have the energy to get it all out!

Last week was quite different from the week before... in one of the affected towns, they put up a HUGE temporary tent that was called a "charity bizarre" where various groups/companies came and offered services. They had everything from clothes to toiletries and family portrait takers! It was an incredible event and it allowed us to get creative with our outreaches and we were able to set up a bingo and women's craft table the first day and the rest of the week since the kids were in school, I set up a 'manicure table'. I had a blast! I was truly in my element and I LOVED serving in that way. God truly knew what I needed and He gave it to me!

It was so amazing to be able to bless so many women with a manicure and some nail art... I painted flowers and hearts and everyone loved it! It was just awesome to be able to use something that I love doing so much as a form of ministry! The reactions of the ladies were priceless! Some loved it so much they came back and asked me to do it again (which I must confess was a bit of a humbling experience after having spent so much time on them a day or 2 before!) Such a simple act yet so meaningful. I was able to help them relax and also feel beautiful! Some of the ladies joked that they weren't going to do anything that night... no dishes, no supper!! :P (I'm sure I wasn't very popular among their families!)

While I painted, Bobby was usually sitting beside me and making conversation with the women. It was so neat to be working side by side and also allowing the women to heal through our conversations. We certainly heard a lot of heart breaking stories, but at the same time we made some wonderful friends. (not just the survivors, but also with other Japanese volunteers) Many, many seeds were sown last week... pray that they will grow!

I also got to spend quite a lot of time with babies throughout the week and of course immensely enjoyed that!

One thing in particular that stood out from that week was how many stories we heard of people who hadn't lost their homes but were struggling to survive now with no stores left in their town. Certainly a perspective we hadn't thought of before.

Yesterday marked 4 months after the 3.11 disaster... hard to believe. Even though it doesn't look like it at first glance, a LOT of progress has been made. Yes, of course there's still a LONG road to recovery ahead of Japan, but the people here have come so far.

We've had a few earthquakes recently that have made the news at home from what I hear... everything's fine here and we usually feel at least one earthquake every day. On Sunday we had a fairly large one (registered as a 3 where we are) just before church started and it was the biggest one I've felt so far. No damage though and things stayed on the walls/shelves so it wasn't terrible. It was the first time I was really scared though because it was the longest one I've felt.

It was interesting to be with Japanese people at the time it hit... you can see the effects of post traumatic stress in many people around here as there was a lot of panic in many of their eyes as the room shook. It was an eye opener for us as to just how much they've been through and what they are facing.

I should get going... I've got laundry to hang! I'm going to end with a vidoe I took last week during a drive through the areas we're working in... hard to watch, but it's an eye opener!

a picture says a thousand words...

2011-07-02T07:44:00.002-05:00

This is a picture I took today while we were stopped at a red light... If you look at the picture closely, the sign says "Tsunami Attention". It's almost like salt in a wound to see a sign like that, particularly in a pile of debris like this one.

We had a good day today, but honestly I'm too tired to write about it right now. Tomorrow we'll go to church, then sometime in the afternoon we're meeting up with a man from our church in Yamaguchi who works in this area. It will be exciting to see a familiar face, but I'm sure he has a lot of painful stories to share. (He was actually in Tokyo when the earthquake hit, but the company he works for is in the heart of where we were today and he's been involved in the clean up process)

Good night...

Pray for Japan...

2011-06-30T23:04:00.002-05:00

I came across this video today and thought it was worth posting. It's sort of cheezy that it's a Justin Bieber song, but it sends a good message and the pictures give a good glimpse of what the people here have been though and are recovering from. (I'm sure there's loads of other videos like this one too)

Pray for Japan! Pray that God's light would shine in this darkness!

Tono Base Camp Day 8...

2011-06-30T19:20:00.005-05:00

so much for my goal of updating every other day! (We have pretty limited internet access and we've also been super busy)

Well, it's been quite a week. In some ways this feels like the longest week of my life and in other ways it feels like time is flying. All my days are blurring together and I had to actually count on my fingers to see how many days we've been here! We actually arrived here a week ago today, but it feels like that was ages ago.

Day 2 of debris cleaning was really tough on me and I've since decided that I will probably not be doing that kind of work again. Maybe I'll try it again sometime, but for now, I'm just taking it slow and doing other kinds of work in the mean time. I find it hard for me to not be critical of myself, comparing myself to the other female volunteers, particularly the Japanese women. They make me feel pretty weak. But... I don't know their stories and maybe they're only here for one or two days and are able to give it their all while they can, but since we're here for a whole month, I need to be careful not to wear myself down. It also makes me feel better when the team of 8 guys (grown men) from the States share about how hard it is on them as well.

The rest of our volunteering time has been photo cleaning. We have a team of two ladies from Taiwan here since Tuesday and so it's worked out well that they wanted to do some 'lighter work' as well. Today is their last day though so they decided to go out and do some debris removal. I was given the option of taking the day off so I did. I must be honest and say it's hard not to feel guilty about staying back today, but I know it's important for me to rest when I can and make sure I'm taking care of myself in all of this.

I've really enjoyed the photo cleaning work. It's also a pretty emotional task, but in a different way. I guess it's just a better fit for me than the physical labor. We've actually done photo cleaning in two different places and the procedures/set up were as different as night and day! The first place basically we just wiped down albums and swept the dry dirt out of the pages and pretty much left them "as good as we could get them" but there was still a lot of water damage to the pictures and some of the albums even had mold growing in them. (Of course, some of the albums were so old that it could have been there before the tsunami) And the little albums we took the pictures out, wiped them with "wet wipes" and put them in new little albums. This place had tables set up and people could walk through the gym and look through the albums and claim them if they recognized them.

One of the biggest blessings happened on our first (and so far only) day there... as we were cleaning some pictures, a lady came in and asked about some pictures that were cleaned the day before (She had come in and found them so they were cleaned and dried for her) to pick them up and while she was asking Bobby about them, she looked at the very pictures he was cleaning and called her grandfather over and said "these are ours too!!"

I couldn't believe it. The chances of her finding her pictures there were slim to none, and on top of that, the chances of the owner of the pictures we were cleaning finding and claiming those ones were even slimmer. But, God knew that I (perhaps I could say we!) needed that to keep us going. This lady and a few of her family members were looking through the gym for about 2 or 3 hours and actually ended up finding a great deal of albums. It was incredible to witness.

The other place we have been cleaning at has a whole different system. We don't get to see the people claiming them because we're not sure where they go when we finish cleaning them. They label all of the albums and each picture is carefully labeled as it's being washed. They also take before and after pictures of some (not sure how they decide which ones) and scan them and do touch ups and repairs to make them look like new again.

It was neat that it was our first day that we experienced the reclaiming because it makes the jobs we've been doing since them seem a lot less tedious. It's hard to think about the amount of effort you out into this without knowing if they will ever be claimed again, but because we met this one family, it keeps me going. Unfortunately there's just piles and piles of loose pictures that will probably never be claimed, but I know that this too is a special ministry and I need to put my whole heart into it.

Today I'm enjoying a quiet house, did some laundry, will do some reading and will help with some things around the house. Next week it looks like I'll be "kitchen manager" which I am looking forward to... except I'll need some meal ideas for big groups... there will be about 30 people here within the next week I think so it'll be quite a task! We don't really have an oven and only have 2 burners so this could be fun! :)

I should get going. Thanks again for praying for us. We can't say it enough how good it is to be prayed for. Until next time...

Tono Base Camp Day 4...

2011-06-27T07:12:00.003-05:00

Well, although it's getting late and it's been an exhausting day, I thought I should update for the sake of keeping track of what's been going on and keeping all of you up to date too!

I'll be pretty honest and say that today was an extremely rough day for me. A number of factors piled up and caused a lot of emotional exhaustion today. I won't go in to details but I'll give you the gist...

This morning we were sent out to a different town than the one we went to on Saturday, and this place was a lot harder hit than where we were before. It was raining and we ended up only working until lunch time, but it was still a rough morning for me. We were removing debris from around a house. I just can't describe what it's like there... it's so hard to take in.

I sort of had a meltdown this afternoon... ok, maybe even two. I have decided that I can't handle doing the "front line" work anymore and will be doing other kinds of work like cleaning pictures that have been found. It's just too hard on my heart. I struggled a lot this afternoon, dealing with feelings of disappointment because I can't handle this kind of work the way everyone around me has been... but God sent me a timely e-mail from a co-worker that was written by Chuck Swindoll about 1 Corinthians 12 (spiritual gifts) I'm going to post it since it might just bless someone else too...

“Have you ever noticed how uniquely adapted each animal is to its environment and its way of life? On land, a duck waddles along ungainly on its webbed feet. In the water, it glides along smooth as glass. The rabbit runs with ease and great bursts of speed, but I’ve never seen one swimming laps. The squirrel climbs anything in sight but cannot fly (unless you count great airborne leaps from limb to limb), while the eagle soars to mountaintops.

What’s true of creatures in the forest is true of Christians in the family. God has not made us all the same. He never intended to. He planned that there be differences, unique capabilities, and variations in the Body. So concerned was He that we realize this, He spelled it out several times in His Word. I charge you to take the time to read 1 Corinthians 12 slowly and aloud. Those thirty-one verses tell us about His desires and designs.

The subject is commonly called “spiritual gifts,” and it is as helpful as any truth the believer can ever know.

God has placed you in His family and given you a certain mixture that makes you unique. No mixture is insignificant!

That mix pleases Him completely. Nobody else is exactly like you. That should bring you pleasure, too.

When you operate in your realm of capabilities, you will excel and the whole Body will benefit…and you will experience incredible satisfaction.

When others operate in their realm, then balance, unity, and health automatically occur in the Body. It’s amazing!

But when you compare…or force…or entertain expectations that reach beyond your or others’ God-given capabilities, then you can expect frustration, discouragement, mediocrity, and, in the long run, defeat.

If God made you a duck saint- you’re a duck, friend. Swim like mad but don’t get bent out of shape because you wobble when you run. Furthermore, if you’re an eagle saint, stop expecting squirrel saints to soar…or rabbit saints to build the same kind of nests you do.

Accept your spiritual species. Cultivate your capabilities. Stop comparing. Enjoy being you!”

Basically, it was an encouragement to me that just because I'm not "like everyone else" being able to do this intense kind of work doesn't mean that I'm without purpose here. God's given me some specific gifts for the time I'm here... I just have to figure out what they are and how to use them!

Again, thanks for praying for us and the people of Japan. We all need your prayers! Good Night :)

Tono Base Camp Day 2 (re-posted!)

2011-06-25T22:57:00.002-05:00

Sorry my blog didn't fully post yesterday... thankfully since it was acting weird I had copied it before I finished and I got it back just now :) So, here's the full report!

Well, we survived our 9 hour overnight bus ride up to Tono and met everyone at the base yesterday. It's a bit of a unique situation we're involved in up here because they're still figuring out leadership and roles, etc. so it's been interesting. We have some volunteer teams coming on Monday and some more later next week... when everyone's here, we'll have 32 people in this house... one shower, one bathroom! Should be fun! ;)

Yesterday was everyone's day off and we had a 2 1/2 hour staff meeting getting stuff straightened out. Then we had the afternoon off and I ended up sleeping all afternoon! (Guess I needed it because I still slept through the night after all that sleep- we've been pretty deprived of sleep lately between all the late nights getting ready to leave, the uncomfortable 10 hour plane ride, a 9 hour bus ride... etc) Then we had supper and devotions and went to bed)

Today we had our first day of volunteering in the effected area. This base is still working on finding partnerships with local churches (there aren't very many so it's been difficult) so we ended up going out with a local volunteer sending center. We got sent to an area where we basically shoveled dirt/mud/rocks/debris into bags to be taken away.

I must admit that it was incredibly hard to drive through all the affected areas. It's one thing to see it in pictures and videos, but it's absolutely heart wrenching to see it in real life. This actually happened. I feel like I can't even put my thoughts and feelings into words, but I'll try... for my own sake and for those of you who are reading this.

We drove by a lot of areas that the tsumani damaged. It's hard to fathom just how powerful it was. It's mind blowing. There's places where all that's left is foundations. There's piles and piles and piles of debris. Some sorted, some still left in the same place it landed in March. I can't imagine what this area looked like in March. Even now, 3 1/2 months after it happened, it's just... ugly. I've never experienced anything like this.

I was thinking about this experience compared to my first time being in Africa, seeing extreme poverty. I don't know if the two are even comparable, but this one has been way more emotional. It's so hard to think about how these places used to be cities. Just like the one we're living in right now. On March 10th, everything was just fine. March 11th changed everything. People are suddenly left homeless... with literally nothing but the clothes on their back. Everything... possibly even everyone... in their lives just gone. Just like that. gone.

As we were digging and shoveling today, we came across a lot of belongings. No idea where they've come from, damaged beyond repair. It broke my heart to see toys.. a messed up doll in particular... just laying there covered in dirt. Some little girl is left wondering where her favorite doll went.

One of the most overwhelming things is just how much work there is to do. Where do you even begin?! I felt like today we weren't really being very useful doing what we were doing, but I guess we just have to trust that every little bit helps.

I can't even use pictures to help me explain all of this because as a courtesy to survivors, we weren't allowed to take pictures, but I'm sure everyone has seen the pictures in the news already.

I am going to head off to bed now, continuing to process my thoughts and get some rest. Thanks for reading...

keep on praying. Japan needs hope!

Tono Base Camp Day 2...

2011-06-25T05:37:00.002-05:00

Well, we survived our 9 hour overnight bus ride up to Tono and met everyone at the base yesterday. It's a bit of a unique situation we're involved in up here because they're still figuring out leadership and roles, etc. so it's been interesting. We have some volunteer teams coming on Monday and some more later next week... when everyone's here, we'll have 32 people in this house... one shower, one bathroom! Should be fun! ;)

Yesterday was everyone's day off and we had a 2 1/2 hour staff meeting getting stuff straightened out. Then we had the afternoon off and I ended up sleeping all afternoon! (Guess I needed it because I still slept through the night after all that sleep- we've been pretty deprived of sleep lately between all the late nights getting ready to leave, the uncomfortable 10 hour plane ride, a 9 hour bus ride... etc) Then we had supper and devotions and went to bed)

Today we had our first day of volunteering in the effected area. This base is still working on finding partnerships with local churches (there aren't very many so it's been difficult) so we ended up going out with a local volunteer sending center. We got sent to an area where we basically shoveled dirt/mud/rocks/debris into bags to be taken away.

I must admit that it was incredibly hard to drive through all the affected areas. It's one thing to see it in pictures and videos, but it's absolutely heart wrenching to see it in real life. This actually happened. I feel like I can't even put my thoughts and feelings into words, but I'll try... for my own sake and for those of you who are reading this.

We drove by a lot of areas that the tsumani damaged. It's hard to fathom just how powerful it was. It's mind blowing. There's places where all that's left is foundations. There's piles and piles and piles of debris. Some sorted, some still left in the same place it landed in March. I

We made it!

2011-06-22T16:34:00.002-05:00

Greetings from Japan!

We had a relatively painless trip and breezed through customs with all our luggage so we're thankful! We also made all of our train connections and made it to our overnight stop at a friends' house. (They are actually away so we've been able to just have some quiet time by ourselves catching up on our sleep!)

We got to the house around 5:30, settled in and ventured out to 7Eleven for some supper (yes, you can get meals at 7Eleven here!) and then we started watching tv but fell asleep around 7 or 8... then we decided that we should just go to bed... so we did! (and slept quite well!) Now we're just relaxing and will venture out in a little while to go back to the train station and make our way to the Crash headquarters... and from there, we don't know what things will look like. I think we might be taking the overnight bus to the base we'll be staying at, but we're not sure yet.

It feels so weird and yet so wonderful to be back again! Feels like home... sort of. We are both really looking forward to our time back in Yamaguchi at the end our our trip.

That's all for now... will update as we can!

We're Off!!!

2011-06-21T11:43:00.002-05:00

Greetings from Vancouver :)

We survived our crazy busy week and here we sit in the beautiful Vancouver airport (how nice is free wireless by the way?!) just waiting for our flight to Tokyo!

My classes are DONE!!! It's super nice to have that behind me now, but boy am I tired of writing papers now! I'm not cut out for school! :P

My brain sort of went blank as to what to write now... guess I'm running on too little sleep to think clearly! Basically I just wanted to say that we're on our way to Japan and getting pretty excited. We know it will be a very emotionally exhausting trip full of heartaches and also celebrations, so please pray for us. Neither one of us has done anything like this before, so it's all new for us.

We will have internet access, but I'm not sure how often we'll be able to write... if you want to be added to our prayer list, leave me a comment and I'll add you. We hope to send out at least one or two e-mails this month to let everyone know how things are going and how they can pray. Also, Bobby wrote a wonderful daily prayer calendar if you're looking for specific requests... You can find it here.

Thanks for praying... Happy first day of summer by the way :)

Heartsy...

2011-06-13T11:03:00.006-05:00

I've discovered this cool new website that someone called the "groupon for Etsy" and so far, I think it's pretty neat! I haven't spent a whole lot of time looking around yet, but I got a $5 credit just for signing up under someone's link to it so that already gives me a good impression!

I don't really know if it's American or not, but I guess we'll have to wait and see. If you sign up under my link (http://heartsy.me/users/123575/referral?c=plink), you'll get a $5 credit too!

Basically, it looks like certain Etsy pages/products go on sale every day through Heartsy so if you've had your eye on something for a while, who knows, maybe it'll go on sale!

I've never actually bought anything from Etsy, but everything I've seen is really neat! It's all homemade products. So, why not give it a try... it doesn't cost you anything to sign up and in fact, we'll both get a $5 credit! :)

Happy shopping!

** I discovered that apparently I don't get my $5 credit until I get 5 people to sign up, but you get your $5 credit immediately! (Just 2 more sign ups to go!!) ;)

Leaving on a Jet Plane...

2011-06-07T12:57:00.004-05:00

Have you ever had a friend that lived so far away that it made you ache inside just wishing you could be with them again??

I have a lot of friends like that, but today one in particular is making my heart ache!

I think I've written about her on here before, but in Japan, I have this SUPER amazing friend named Yumi... We met through our co-workers and she came to my English class. She helped me with my ethnography for CrossTraining and just ended up being a really close friend. She taught me so much and we had so much fun together.

I just got an e-mail from her (it's 3am in Japan!) and it made me miss her so much I go tears in my eyes! She is so full of life and energy and always smiling. I love being with her. Unfortunately she isn't a Christian yet and she really needs the Lord. She's come close to believing more than once, but her ties to Buddhism and family obligations are so strong she won't let go of that part of her life. Please pray for her!!

She made me laugh in her e-mail because she said recently she's been thinking of me because when she makes lunch, she's been burning things... she said she's become like me! :P

Today although it aches, thinking of her also brings me great joy because we will get to see her soon!! That's right, we're heading back to Japan... THIS MONTH! About 2 weeks ago, the idea of going to help out with relief work came to Bobby's mind and we've been praying about it since. At this point, we've been invited to come to Japan to work with an organization called CRASH. We still need to book tickets, but it looks like we'll be heading out around the 22nd and stay for about a month, and then spend a few days with our teammates and the church body in Yamaguchi before heading back home. We're so excited that God is allowing us to do this! There's still a lot of unknowns at this point... we don't know where we'll be working or what exactly we'll be doing and probably won't know until just before we leave, but we're ok with that! We are sort of in shock that this is happening!

Anyway, I'm supposed to be working on a paper right now as my time is ticking away to finish my courses so I need to get going! Thanks for praying for us!!

any ideas...

2011-06-03T14:08:00.002-05:00

Anyone have suggestions as to how to stay awake while reading a textbook on a bright sunny afternoon with a cool breeze blowing in through the windows??

Everything inside of me wants to just curl up on the couch and take a nap right now but I have SO much reading to do today!

Oh, and by the way, suggestions to take just a little cat nap won't do. I can't do cat naps... naps are 2-3 hour ordeals for me! :P

Maybe I need to invest in some glasses like these...

She's here!

2011-05-23T18:17:00.002-05:00

She made her debut on May 12 around 8:30 am... Kirsten Olivia weighed in at 6lbs even and is absolutely perfect! We were able to be in Regina when she was born and even got snuck into the room to see her at just 2 hours old! :) We spent the week in Regina and enjoyed getting to know our new family member and fell in love with her! She's already got a special place in our hearts and we can't wait to see her again!

Here's our first 3 generation picture...

Welcome to the family, Kirsten! We sure do love you!! Congratulations Melissa and Brad! :)

i heart spring!

2011-04-25T14:26:00.002-05:00

long time no blog... I know!

life is kinda crazy as usual!

I finished up classes and exams at Prov... but I still have 2 online classes to finish by May 19th... (yikes) We're packing up and moving to Winnipeg this weekend! Can't wait to be close to everyone and everything we're involved in... although we will both really miss the quiet country life (and our wonderful neighbours!) of Otterburne.

As I sit here typing, the windows are wide open, the breeze is blowing in fresh air, the laundry is done (thanks to my wonderful hubby!), the birds are chirping... and I sit gazing at my birthday present from Bobby longing to open it up and see what's inside!! hehehe :)

Yes, my birthday is tomorrow!! I must admit I'm pretty excited... I'll be 25! Makes me feel old, but hey, 25 is a fun age :) Tonight our Korean neighbours invited us over for dinner to celebrate and tomorrow we're going to head to the city to have some fun. First a picnic lunch, then some ice cream at Cold Stone/Marble Slab (I can't remember which one is closer to us, but they're the same thing I think) then off to the zoo!! After the zoo, we'll have a family dinner at Applebee's... including my adopted sister Ashley who happens to be visiting from Vancouver! :)

I feel pretty spoiled that I get to plan our day and enjoy a stress-free day! I'm looking forward to it... I certainly feel loved!

Anwyay, must get back to work now... Happy Spring/belated Easter!

One year ago today...

2011-03-31T14:10:00.002-05:00

...my best friend asked me the most important question I've ever been asked in my life- and the answer was... YES!!! :) (of course!) One year ago today, Bobby asked me to marry him and I couldn't have been more excited! Today we had a picnic (in our living room as it was a little chilly!) to celebrate and reminisce about our special day. It's hard to believe it's been a year, but what a wonderful year it's been! All the ups and downs of planning a wedding (with a continent between us!), intensive 2 weeks of missions training followed by a week of intensive pre-marital counseling, the excitement of pre-wedding festivities, a dream come true wedding day, a blissful honeymoon, adjusting to being a student again, and of course- the ups and downs of figuring out married life! I'm so excited about our future together. What a blessing marriage is! I really couldn't be happier. I couldn't have made a better decision than to say YES that day :) Happy one year engagement anniversary, Bobby! Thanks for making me the happiest girl on the planet! (If you want to re-read our engagement story, take a peek here.)

Baby shower!!

2011-03-30T10:56:00.002-05:00

Just after Valentine's Day, Melissa and Brad came for the weekend. Bobby had a brilliant idea that Mom and I should throw Melissa a surprise shower... so that's what we did!! She ended up being totally surprised, and had no idea it was coming! I was pretty proud we were able to pull it off! (Thanks to Brad for being in on the surprise!) We had 6 guests there, all friends from church and I was really pleased with the turn out. They all brought wonderful gifts for Lissa, and she was really grateful for everything since they are starting from scratch as this is her first baby. We played a ton of games (ok, so maybe I went a little overboard!) but I think everyone had fun! I had our friend Ashleigh (mother of twins) bring a bunch of socks for this game... All the socks got mixed up and it was a race to see who could sort them fastest. Melissa won! :)

I made her a diaper cake as my gift to her... it was super fun to make and I was really proud of how it turned out! (I'm so humble today... first the cookies, now the diaper cake!)

It's so fun having a sister... and it's going to be even more fun to be an auntie! :) I can't wait... just a little more than a month to go now!

Thanks for coming to visit, Lissa :) I had a great weekend with you! I love you, big sister!

Valentine's Day :)

2011-03-30T09:41:00.005-05:00

Well, this post is over a month late, but it's still fun for me to talk about so I'll post it anyway!

I kicked off Valentine's Day 'week' with some baking and had a blast making cookies for my friends and neighbours. I anonymously put them in boxes at school, but some people figured it out that they were from me! Here's how they turned out... I was quite proud of them!

As most of you probably know, Valentine's Day is my favorite day of the whole year! This year was particularly special though, because it was our first Valentine's Day physically together (as a couple... since we first met on Feb 13th when I went to Japan) Last year, although we were dating, Bobby was in Maryland and I was in Manitoba :(

Anyway, we were both pretty excited about celebrating this year and we ended up having a fantastic day together! We were in Riverton on the 13th as Bobby was preaching, and ended up staying the night at Darren and Amy's because the roads were bad (We looked after their kids while they went on a date that night and since it was late and had our overnight stuff anyway because we were planning to stay in the city at Mom and Dad's that night, we decided to stay in Riverton) We had a great time with Darren, Amy and the kids!

We didn't end up heading out until around 11, so when we got to the city (I think) we had lunch and then headed to the Forks to go snowshoeing (we borrowed Mom and Dad's). We had a lot of fun even though the conditions weren't very good since it was super mild that weekend. We had fun taking pictures and just being goofy together! It was also fun to get to see some of the cool shelters that they put up along the river trail. Here's a glimpse of our afternoon.... (The much improved roads...)

Here we go!

There were big cracks way under the ice which was a little scary... but the ice was so thick it was fine!

I don't know how this happens, but the ice had sort of clumped up in chunks... it was super neat!

So thick!

There was a cool ice castle at the Forks that we had fun playing around in :)

After our outdoor adventure, we did a little shopping, then we came home and got all dressed up. Bobby made me a WONDERFUL dinner (chicken cordon bleu, honey garlic noodles, and edamame with sparking raspberry-white grape juice) and created a nice romantic atmosphere (we aren't allowed to use real candles in our apartment, so we use battery tealights!) It was fun to get all fancy and sit down to a yummy dinner at home!

I know Bobby put a lot of work into making our day special and he was certainly sucessful!! Thanks for the truly wonderful day, Baby! I felt so special and so loved :) I love you, my Valentine!

my husband is so funny :)

2011-03-26T19:47:00.002-05:00

Here's a conversation that happened just a few moments ago...

H: (while sewing a button on Bobby's shirt for tomorrow) I feel like an old pioneer woman :)

B: If you really wanted to feel like a pioneer woman, you could wait an hour and do this by candle while we're doing "Earth Hour"! :)

hehehe :) Isn't he funny?! I love how he makes me laugh... all the time! That was one of the qualities I always had on my list of 'ideals' in a future husband and I sure got that one! :)

Tonight, as you read, we are doing Earth Hour! (Where everyone turns out their lights for an hour at 8:30) You should do it too! (I guess I should have wrote this earlier though...)

We're going to maybe go for a walk and come back and play Yatzee by candlelight (actually, we have to use battery tealights since we're not allowed to burn candles in our apartment!) which is an old 'Purdy family tradition' (My mom's family always used to do that when the power went out)

What will/would you do during Earth Hour??

nothing like it...

2011-03-26T17:39:00.004-05:00

ok, so I'll be the first to admit... I've neglected my blog! Life has just been crazy over the last couple months! I've got plenty to blog about, but so little time these days!

But... today I thought I'd break the silence and write about something we did today that I find extremely exciting...

We took the plastic off our windows and cracked them open!!

There really is nothing like opening the windows after a long winter! The breeze feels amazing and it makes everything feel so much fresher! Away with the stuffy winter air!!! :)

Bobby made me smile when he said "it's like taking a walk inside!" :) I thought that was a pretty good way to describe it!

This afternoon, Bobby's busy working on getting ready for the baptism he's doing for a girl in our Japanese congregation and even though I do have assignments and reading to work on, I don't have anything "pressing" this weekend so I decided to do some major spring cleaning today!

I didn't plan on it, but it all started when we sat down to lunch and Bobby noticed how dirty the screen that covers the fan on the stove was. (this makes me sound like a nerd, I know, but I'll say it anyway!) I love cleaning projects like that when you can really see the difference before and after your efforts! (ie: Vaccuuming, a sink full of dishes, a sparkling bathroom sink, etc) I actually really do like being clean and organized... I'm just not very good at it (or staying consistent).

Anyway, I decided to scrub that screen like there's no tomorrow and ended up with quite satisfying results! That led to the decision to scrub my entire stove (not the oven, but all the little pans and rings around the elements!!) and then that led to cleaning up the kitchen counters. Then I did some baking (a whole other exciting post!) for the potluck tomorrow then cleaned the bathroom, then swept and wiped the kitchen and bathroom floors... And that's when the windows got opened! We'd been waiting to take the plastic off because it's still been getting cool at night, but today was just too beautiful and I wanted the house to feel even cleaner... so we opened them up! :)

Nothing like a good spring cleaning... and opening the windows for the first time in months! :)

I've been tagged :)

2011-02-10T17:07:00.004-06:00

Lindsey tagged me and since I'm a sucker for blogging, I'm gonna do it :) and of course pass on the tag!

Rule #1: the tagged person must write their answers on their blog and replace any question they dislike with a new question formulated by themselves.

Rule #2: tag 4 people to do this quiz; they cannot refuse (ok, so nothing bad will happen if you don’t participate but I would love to see your answers). The tag-ee must state who tagged them.

1. If you have pets, do you see them as merely animals or are they members of your family?
Well, I am sort of on the fence about this one... I think pets are great and they really do become like part of the family, but there is a fine line between a pet lover and crazy people! (I don't know how to explain what I'm trying to say!)

2. If you could have a dream come true, what would it be?
To speak fluent Japanese! and be a stay at home mom :)

3. What would you do with a billion dollars?
hmmm... a billion dollars is A LOT of money!
I'd love to help our families out and pay everything off for everyone so that they could all live without money worries, Help out some of my friends in Uganda, buy a log cabin for my parents, put some money away for future kids' college funds, help out families who want to adopt but can't afford it, support close missionary friends and their ministries, somehow invest in an airline so that we could have an unlimited supply of plane tickets anywhere in the world (especially to and from Japan and NS!), a getaway cabin on the lake and a home somewhere by the water... and I'm sure this could go on and on, but I'll stop there!

4. What helps to pull you out of a bad mood?
Well, to be honest, I tend to get stuck in bad moods and it's hard for me to get happy again quickly but... snuggling up on the couch with Bobby (or a nice long hug), bubble baths, Heartland, being with kids... and chocolate are all pretty good places to start!

5. What is your bedtime routine, with your kids?
No kids for us yet, but the tow of us have a bedtime routine that's pretty much the same every night... we usually watch tv or playing games together in the evenings, then we do some kind of reading together in bed (usually it's a devotional reading), turn on our piano worship music and drift into sleep!

6. If you are currently in a relationship, how did you meet your significant other?
We met in Japan... 2 years ago on Feb 13th! :) (I love our story!)

7. What kind of books do you read?
Right now, all I'm reading is text books and my Bible! :( But, when I have time, I really like to read 'inspirational' books. Oh yeah, Bobby and I are reading The Book of Awesome slowly but surely and loving it!

8. How do you see yourself in 10 years?
Well, the obvious answer is 34 years old (almost 35!). I assume we'll be in Japan and hopefully I'll have moved from full time language study into full time ministry! I also assume our family will be a little bigger than it is now... we want to have kids, but of course only God knows how that dream will unfold!

9. What’s your fear?
That I'll lose a loved one sooner than I'm ready to... or ending up as a widow. I also sometimes wonder/worry about having kids/not being able to have kids because I think it's something a lot of people take for granted.

10. Would you give up all junk food for the rest of your life for the opportunity to see outer space?
Actually, space fascinates me... so I might just do it! As long as junk food all around me would be eliminated because the temptation would be cruel!! But... space is kind of scary... and I do LOVE junk food! so I guess I don't know!

11. What’s the first thing you do when you wake up?
Do the math to figure out how much longer I can hit snooze to sleep a little longer!

12. If you could change one thing about your significant other, what would it be?
First of all, I think it's sort of mean to have this question on here... and second, even though many will roll their eyes and say it's because I'm a 'newlywed' but really, I am so blessed with such a wonderful husband and I really don't want to change anything about him!

13. If you could pick a new name for yourself, what would it be?
I absolutely love my name! There are names that I like, and would consider naming future daughters, but I don't like any of them enough to be make it mine!

14. If you had to choose between six months of sun or six months of rain, what would you choose?
Probably the sun... I do love the rain, but 6 months is a long time for rain and I think I'd miss the sun

15. If you could only eat one thing for the next 6 months, what would it be?
again, 6 months is a long time... but I don't think I'll ever get sick of bread or cheese!

16. What is the thing you enjoy about blogging the most?
I like to think of it as a creative outlet! I love posting pictures and having people comment on my posts. I like being able to keep up with people this way since I don't have a Facebook account anymore.

17. Do you prefer salty or sweet foods?
Depends on my mood, but usually sweet wins!

18. What items are in your purse right now?
wallet, lotion, hand sanitizer, 'girl stuff', chapstick, a reusable shopping bag, pens, Tylenol... and lots of other odds and ends too I'm sure!

19. If you had to choose between vacationing at the beach or in the mountains where would you go?
That's always been a tough one! I actually had to make that decision last year in Japan when my teammates and I went camping... they let me decide and I ended up picking the beach and was happy with my decision! There's just something about the water that I find so peaceful and relaxing!

20. What do you watch on television that you know you shouldn’t?
Well, I am usually pretty intentional about the shows that I watch/don't watch, but I do occasionally watch Grey's Anatomy.

And now I tag:

Melissa- http://bmtaylor.blogspot.com/

Bobby- http://hiraoandbeyond.blogspot.com/

Cher- http://stephenandcher.blogspot.com/

Alyssa- http://notestoself35.blogspot.com/ (I know you're not at home right now, but if you have time you can do it!)

best friends are awesome...

2011-02-09T14:57:00.002-06:00

I just have to say that today, I am very thankful for the gift of a best friend! I am blessed to have more than one person I get to call best friend, but today, I am particularly thankful for my "oldest" best friend, Angela. We've know each other since grade 4 (16 years!) and as you can see, we love to have fun and be crazy together!

Angela lives in Saskatchewan so we don't get to see each other very often, but our friendship is still thriving! Today we were able to have an absolutely wonderful phone conversation and I couldn't be more grateful for her. We shared some good laughs and even some tears, but best of all, we got to pray for one another.

God has certainly blessed me with an amazing friend and I love her SO much! Today I wanted the world to know just how thankful I am!

I love you Ang! :)

proud Auntie-to-be...

2011-02-09T14:55:00.001-06:00

I just have to say once again that my sister's having a baby... and I couldn't be more excited!!
I think Melissa looks beautiful :) I sure can't wait to meet this little one!!!

we like snow! :)

2011-02-09T14:37:00.005-06:00

We've had quite a snowy winter so far... and we quite enjoy it! The other day we went on a walk and had some fun...

Here's a picture of the stop sign at the end of our street... (it's really piled up because it drifts pretty bad on this corner so this is the aftermath of the plow)

We ventured down to the river to walk across it and go down the path to the school through the woods but were a little surprised to find out the snow was REALLY deep!! We were laughing so hard I couldn't move!

It was literally up to our thighs!

I tried to follow behind in Bobby's footsteps, but I sank a little deeper than him! (Bobby got a kick out of the expression on my face in this one!)

We had a great time enjoying the snow and definitely burned a lot of calories from all the snow tromping (and laughing!) We like snow! :)

We love having company!

2011-01-31T17:41:00.004-06:00

One of the things I love the most about having an apartment to call our own is having people over! Just as the semester was finishing before Christmas, I decided we should throw a little post exam celebration party... so we did! I had plans to play games, eat and watch Elf, but we ended up just eating and visiting... and playing Monopoly Deal! (our favorite game!)

Although it was a little smaller than I was originally planning, we still had a blast with the two couples that ended up coming (a couple that I know from school and Siloam and our neighbours)

Here's Brendan and Erin plotting their win...
Team Baden also scheming....

and Mark and Steph figuring the game out!

Aren't they so cute?!

We had a really fun night and really enjoyed getting to know both of these couples a little better!

We also enjoy having friends and family over "just because"! Mom and Dad came over for lunch and games a couple Saturdays ago and we had a lot of fun with them too!

It's become a tradition (for our guestbook) to take a group photo at the end of our "gathering" to capture the memory of the visit....

Here's the one we took at the end of our evening with our Brazillian neighbours...

They have twin 4 year old girls that are SO cute!

We are so thankful for the wonderful home God has blessed us with! and we're thankful for the wonderful friends and family He's given us to enjoy it with!

Wanna come for a visit?? We'd love to have you!

Catching up...

2011-01-31T16:59:00.004-06:00

I don't think I really did post about our Christmas so I thought I'd do a quick catch up today just for fun...

We had a great time in SK with Mom and Dad and Melissa and Brad... lots of laughs and lots of fun! It was neat to be together as a family of 6! (and particularly exciting to think about how we'll be a family of 7 by next Christmas!!)

The day after we got home (the 28th), we got up and had our own little Christmas morning together :) We had fun just enjoying our first Christmas together and enjoying the few surprise gifts we had gotten each other.

This is us, just after we got up and before we opened our gifts :) (sporting my new flannel pj's Bobby gave me while we were in SK)

Here's my stocking... I'm excited, can you tell??

Bobby opening the book of family traditions I got him...

He designed this picture with our wedding vows written on it and got a nice frame for it :)

and he got me Season 2 of Heartland... my favorite show!!

When Mom and Dad came over for a visit sometime after New Year's, we got a good picture infront of our lovely tree :)

and of course, had to have a little bit of fun too...

We had a great first Christmas and had fun merging our family traditions and creating our own :) Who knows what next Christmas will be like!

I realized something today...

2011-01-11T14:49:00.004-06:00

Today was my first day back at school since December and I realized something...

I have friends! :) Ok, so it sounds silly to say that out loud now that I'm writing it, but to me it feels pretty significant! I'm not the most outgoing person you'll ever meet and I'm not so good at the first steps of making new friends.

But... today as I bumped into people I knew from last semester and caught up on how the holidays were, I realized that I've made a couple of friends here at Prov... and that makes my little heart happy :)

Thank you Jesus for friends!

6 month anniversary getaway :)

2011-01-08T19:50:00.010-06:00

As you saw in the last post, Bobby and I were able to celebrate (a little early) our 6 month anniversary at the place we went for our honeymoon (this time just 2 nights instead of a week though!). We have found a great little spot called Barrier Bay in the Whiteshell Provincial Park and absolutely love it there! We had an amazing time there this summer and weren't surprised to discover that it's just as wonderful (if not more wonderful!) in the winter.

A couple months back, I was notified that my anniversary present was a 2 night stay at Barrier Bay and I couldn't have been more thrilled! We figured that we probably won't be able to go back there anytime soon since we'll be in Japan for most of the rest of our lives together so we splurged and called it our 6 month anniversary celebration :)

After a LONG two months of waiting, we finally headed up to Whiteshell on January 4th and settled back into "our cabin". It's so beautiful up there... so peaceful and quiet that it's hard to describe! It's right on the lake but sheltered by trees. There were a ton of birds we saw and I really enjoyed that. (Except for the one that hit our window while we were watching a movie!) They have bird feeders set up by two windows and we were able to see some woodpeckers, bluejays, nuthatches, and chickadees... (and those are just the ones I know the names of!)

On Wednesday we tried out their free snowshoes and had a great little hike on the trail they have made. I think I found a new favorite form of winter exercise! The cabin was great too... this time we actually used the gas fireplace (didn't need to in summer!) and it was so nice to have such a cozy little spot to curl up infront of :)

We thought these trees looked like Charlie Brown trees :)

Don't worry, I wasn't always this unstable! :P

I got a little thirsty :)

I'm so thankful for this special time we could have together. Thanks for the wonderful little getaway, Bobby. Happy 6 month anniversary! I love you!

a Snowshoe adventure!

2011-01-08T12:31:00.001-06:00

Bobby and I went on a little adventure this week... Bobby arranged for a 2 night stay at Barrier Bay (where we went for our honeymoon) to celebrate our 6 month anniversary! They have complimentry snow shoes to use so we tried it out and had a blast! Here's a clip of our little adventure...

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

today's the day!

2010-12-24T09:18:00.002-06:00

It's Christmas Eve! I was glancing at some of my old blog posts the other day and was reminded of how much I love the actual day of Christmas Eve! (It's my second favorite day of the year next to Valentine's Day!) I don't know what it is, but I just love the anticipation of Christmas... maybe because Christmas comes and goes so fast.

I will always remember heading over to my Aunt Chris' house on Christmas Eve after we went to church for the candle light service. Her house is always so "magical" at Christmas! We always had special crafts that were planned for us, yummy food, and of course, the blessing of having Mom's side of the family all together :) I sure do miss that.

This year, we're heading to Melissa and Brad's for Christmas Eve! We're leaving this morning around 11 when Mom gets off work!! We're going to hopefully make it to their candle light service and then head home and have some appetizers and sweets... and maybe play some games or watch Christmas movies. It will be a good weekend for sure! It will be our first Christmas as a family of 6... and soon to be 7 with a little Taylor baby on the way! This probably won't happen again for a while so we're all really soaking this one in.

It's also my first Christmas with Bobby! Even though we were dating this time last year, he was in the States and I was in Japan. We're also looking forward to a special time together just the 2 of us after we get home from Saskatchewan... I get 2 Christmas Eves! :)

Well, I should get going... Merry Christmas to all! Have a wonderful holiday and enjoy every minute of it! Make lots of memories! :)

My way of celebrating!

2010-12-15T15:10:00.002-06:00

Today was the big day... I wrote my last final exam for this semester!!! I'm SO excited to be done! I had decided a little while back that I was going to celebrate by making Gingerbread men... so that's what I did this afternoon! I bought a mix from Superstore (highly recommended by the way!) and set to work! I had a lot of fun! I made icing and decorated them after too :) Take a peek...

I'm quite proud of myself :) I love being creative... and I love having time to bake and be creative again!!! Tonight our apartment building is having a cookie exchange mingler and I can't wait to share our treats! :)

Prov Christmas banquet...

2010-12-15T15:06:00.002-06:00

We had a fun time at the banquet last Friday! Here's a picture a friend of ours took...

It sure was fun to get all dressed up and go out together! The food was SO good too! Christmas celebrations are so much fun!

I love picnics!!

2010-12-15T14:51:00.002-06:00

I love picnics... and my husband knows that so he planned a special winter picnic for us... in our living room! I absolutely loved it and couldn't stop smiling the whole time! :) I am certainly a blessed woman! What a fun little date!

winter beauty...

2010-12-15T14:39:00.003-06:00

The other morning (it's blog catch up time!) we had a beautiful hoar frost and we were able to snap a few pictures out our window... enjoy!

My husband is the greatest...

2010-12-08T17:38:00.003-06:00

My husband did something very sweet and thoughtful today... and as usual, I feel compelled to share it with the world... He had to go to Steinbach to pick up some ink to finish printing our prayer letters this afternoon and he came back with 5 pretty pink roses just for me :) He knows the way to my heart! (but he already has my heart anyway!) Thank you, Baby :)

My day was also brightened by a phone call from my sister... she had her first ultrasound today and they're having a.............. wait. Can't say it on here because Mom doesn't want to know yet and she reads my blog. (if you really want to know, you can e-mail me!)

On the school front... I've got 3 more classes left (one is actually not really going to be a 'class' but we still have to go... just 2 more days for this semester and one more paper to write! Then I have 3 exams (one on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday) and then I'm done!! Yipee! :) Can't wait for the break... although I seemed to have created quite a to-do list for myself over the break. I guess I'm just looking forward to a change of pace!

This Friday is our 5 month anniversary and we get to celebrate by getting all dressed up and going out for a free meal! (the Prov Christmas banquet is on Friday) :)

Well, guess I should get back to that paper! Thanks for stopping by!

Christmas at the Badens!

2010-12-06T16:11:00.004-06:00

It definitely looks like Christmas in our house now! Last weekend we found ourselves a tree, some lights and some decorations at the Goodwill store and set it up! This weekend we got a few more additions to our decorations for the house at Dollarama and now it's officially Christmas in the Baden's house! :) Here's how it all turned out.... Bobby very dilligently fluffing up the tree!
and proudly admiring his job on the lighting... (I very happily delegated him to that job for us for the rest of our marriage! he's so good at it!)so pretty :)

Today we did some more decorating and Bobby wrapped some presents to put under our tree... again, he's so good at this!! :)

He was having fun :)

We used some Christmas money to buy the Willow Tree nativity set because we both like it so much...

Isn't it beautiful?! We really like it!

You can't really see it too well, but I have snowflakes hanging in all 4 windows... and then there's a mobile on the ceiling and decorations on the wall :)

The final product... our happy little tree! minus a topper... we're still compromising on that one! ;)

notice how our card string only has one card on it?! Hopefully we'll get some more to add to it later this month!

Merry Christmas!!! :)

Diaper Backpack...

2010-12-01T13:00:00.003-06:00

Since my big sister Melissa is having a baby in May, I'm now officially always on the lookout for anything 'baby'... especially free things and giveaways!

I came across a blog that is currently hosting a giveaway and by posting a blog about it, I get one extra entry. I don't normally enter contests like this but this time it's worth the effort because it's something I'd absolutely love to win for my sister!

This contest is featuring a super cool backpack diaper bag that I'm pretty sure Melissa will really like... just look at all the features...

2 large compartments
Removable padded changing mat
Internal baby accessory pocketing
Ergonomic back panel & shoulder straps
Quick access, insulated bottle pockets
Parent's Organizer
Reinforced base panel for durability
Premium YKK Zippers
100% Recycled 600D Polyester Main Body Fabric
100% Recycled Polyester Webbing
100% Recycled Plastic Buckles
Rubberized, non-toxic, waterproof coating
Lifetime Takeback Policy
Manufactured in a Fair Labor Association and Social Accountability International approved factory

Have I mentioned that I really want to win this for Melissa?!... I think it'd be the perfect gift for a first-time mom :)

The company sponsoring the giveaway (Green Ostrich) also has a ton of really great products worth taking a look at. You can find their website here...

Wish me luck! :)

Winter Wonderland!

2010-11-26T12:53:00.004-06:00

Happy Winter!! Just thought I'd share some beautiful pictures that my very talented husband took of our window the other day... and a few others too!

Aren't they gorgeous?! God is so creative and amazing!In the last week, we were blessed to recieve quite a blanket of snow! We've had a beautiful, mild November, and then winter came in with a bang! We heard on the news last night that we haven't had this much snow in November since 1996! (and we've only had snow for a week!)

Anyway, both Bobby and I LOVE snow so we've really enjoyed the last week! It's so beautiful! (Of course not so fun to drive in, but we've been able to stay at home all week and just enjoy watching it fall.) We both bought new winter boots last weekend and the other day we went for a quick little walk (it was a bit colder than we thought!) and took a few pictures... (yes, we do take a lot of self portraits!)

Our home base (for now anyway!)

It was snowing so much you couldn't see very far!

This is one of our favorites...

Two things will always make me smile... snow and being with my wonderful husband! (and what fun it is to combine those two things!)

It just kept snowing and snowing!

and of course I couldn't resist playing in it! :)

In my world, it's officially time to celebrate winter... and Christmas! I've been listening to Christmas music for the last couple of days now and I love it! Nothing better than curling up with a blanket and a hot drink and listening to Christmas music and watching the snow fall!

We haven't decorated for Christmas yet though since we're starting from scratch and can't really go too crazy since we have to either store everything or take it with us to Japan (most likely storing it since we already have Christmas stuff in Japan... including a HUGE tree we bought from one of our co-workers... can't wait to set that one up!) Anyway, we're going to go tree shopping at the thrift stores around here sometime soon and see what we can find so soon our home will look like Christmas too!

Hope you're enjoying your winter!

A new addition...

2010-11-24T11:36:00.003-06:00

We have a new nephew!!

No, Melissa didn't give birth prematurely, but Bobby's sister in law (does that make her my sister in law too? I've never been able to figure that one out!) had a healthy 9lb 11oz baby boy this morning :)

No pictures or name that we've heard yet... all we know is that all is well! :)

Congrats to the Badens! We can't wait to meet you, little one!

PS- thanks for the sympathy comments yesterday... guess I was a little worked up!

Group Projects Drive Me Crazy!!!

2010-11-23T17:33:00.002-06:00

For the record... I hate group projects! For some reason, this semester I have been involved in SEVERAL group projects and it's confirmed my dislike for them! Sure, sometimes you get a great group where everyone shares the work and things go smoothly... and you get a good grade. But then there's the groups where people don't show up to meetings, show up late, and in general just don't care about the project at all... and then there's the groups that have terrible communication about when/where to meet!

Let's just say that I'm involved in two group projects right now and they are both driving me crazy! Sure, maybe I'm not so easy to work with, but I do try my best to be an 'active member' and show up when I'm supposed to! I'm not really sure if this blog has a point or not, but I guess I just need to get this off my chest! In spite of the apparent goals of 'this is what life is like/it teaches you how to deal with people'... I DON'T LIKE GROUP PROJECTS... and I'm going crazy!!

So... now that I've stated that... I'm going to contently get back to my individual work now! How do you feel about group projects?!

It's the little things...

2010-11-11T15:28:00.004-06:00

Who doesn't love an excuse to celebrate?! I know I do :)

Yesterday marked 4 months of marriage for Bobby and I... so of course we jumped on the opportunity to celebrate! I used to think celebrating 'little anniversaries' was silly, but now I think marriage is different, and it's important to celebrate the small milestones! :)

After class, we drove into the city and went for lunch at Montana's, taking advantage of a gift card given to us for our wedding. We had a great time and enjoyed some yummy food!

After that, we had to stop by Service Canada so that Bobby could get a SIN... which turned out to be a success! :)

Then we went to the Forks (to visit "our spot" where we got engaged), got some Hot Chocolate, hung out with the geese and ducks for a bit and then went for a walk.

The birds were all quite tame... and hoping that we had some food for them, but we disappointed them. Bobby was sticking his hand out to see how close they would come to us... and this guy almost nipped at his fingers! (I missed it by a second... this was just after)

Posing in front of "our spot" :)

Then we did some shopping and went to Step Up 3 at the cheap theatre.

After that, we decided to have a bit of a backwards supper... we went out to Moxie's for dinner, but ordered only dessert! :)

Next, we went to Chapters and wandered around and looked at books together :)

And to cap off the evening, we went grocery shopping! :)

All in all, it was a fantastic date day and we really enjoyed having a stress free day to just be together and enjoy one another!

I love being married...and I love my husband! :)

My big sister...

2010-10-30T20:26:00.004-05:00

...is going to be a MOM in May!!!

Congratulations, Lissa! (and Brad too!) I can't wait to meet my niece or nephew... and I know he or she will have an awesome set of parents!! :)

I love you!!

Our first home and a wedding update :)

2010-10-18T13:39:00.003-05:00

Well, it's long overdue now, but I finally posted some pictures of our new home in Otterburne :)

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=285408&id=517722436&l=748bfa9249

We had an amazing time in Edmonton/Vegreville for Nadine's wedding... everything went so well and it was so great to be a part of Brandon and Nadine's special day!I have to say, best part of the whole weekend... falling in love with my husband all over again :)

I haven't posted my own album on Facebook yet because I've got so many pictures to post, but haven't had time to organize them into an album, but I'll leave you with some of my favorites....

So great spending time with Ang again... and getting to enjoy the excitement of her recent engagement too!

The four of us had a blast hanging out together! Adam and Bobby kept each other company since Ang and I were so busy!

Congratulations, Nadine :) I love you OTNS!

ten years of friendship...

2010-10-07T11:31:00.006-05:00

God has blessed me with many wonderful friends, often providing them just when I need them most!

Nadine Crocker is one of those friends...

Nadine and I met in grade 9 at Caronport. I was nervous about the transition from "Caronport Elementry School" to "Caronport High School", especially since I was making the big change without my best friend from elementry school because she had just moved to Alberta. But... God knew all along that Nadine Crocker would enter my world and become one of my best friends ever! I don't even remember how we actually met... might have had a few classes together and bumped into each other now and then, but I do remember the moment our friendship was sealed.

I had decided to ask one of the commuting students (from Moose Jaw) to come eat their lunch at my house... and for some reason, I picked Nadine... and she said "sure!" And from then on, we shared many a lunch together and became the best of friends!

We had two wonderful years in high school together with many adventures... Sadie Hawkins dates, Christmas banquets, countless sleep overs, and even a 'joint birthday party' (my birthday is April 26 and hers is May 1 so we had a combined party one year!) just to name a few!

But then it happened... her family moved to BC and Nadine went with them :(

In spite of the two provinces between us, we still maintained a wonderful friendship and even got to visit each other a couple of times. Even after high school and having continents between us, we've still kept in touch and enjoy our friendship just as much (if not more!) now, six years later, as we did in our high school days!

Another fun note about our friendship is that it's actually also a trio friendship... with Angela, my friend that I've known since we moved to Caronport in '95! The three of us a quite the friends... and I love it! I was priviledged to have both of them stand as my bridesmaids 3 months ago and we had a blast being reunited!

And now that brings us to this weekend... Nadine's getting married too! Ang and I both get to be bridesmaids so we're excited to be together again!

Basically, I just wanted to write a little tribute to my wonderful friend Nadine and let the world know how excited I am that she's getting married!! Congratulations, Nadine and Brandon!!!!

Bobby's coming with me to Edmonton, so I'm sure he'll take pictures... and I'll post them after we get back... for now, enjoy a little taste of how much Nadine and I love each other! ;)

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=56695&id=517722436&l=6236cbbe72

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=53589&id=517722436&l=d40fbb4b01

correction....

2010-09-24T09:22:00.001-05:00

i have bruises! :) just thought you'd like to know!
(yes, I'm a nerd for broadcasting that!)

my morning at school today...

2010-09-23T11:42:00.003-05:00

I came home from school today and here's what my conversation with Bobby went like:

H: Guess what I did at school today?!

B: Did you make a new friend??!!

H: Nope... even better. I fell down the stairs!! :)

(followed up with a sympathetic hug from my wonderful husband and a check to make sure I was ok!)

Yup... I fell down the stairs today on my way home from class... on a staircase loaded with people! excellent! I walked away saying what my Grammie would say... "nothing was hurt but my pride!" (but actually my wrist hurts a little!)

Worst part... not even any bruises to show for it! :P

The guy walking down in front of me was quite a gentleman... he turned around really fast and stuck out his arms trying to stop me from falling (but it was too late- I was already flat on my bum by then!) and asked if I was ok... then later made a comment about slippery shoes to make me feel better!

oh how I love being clumsy! :)

September??!! oh my!

2010-09-03T12:37:00.007-05:00

oh wow... it's September already! As usual, at the end of another summer, I find myself asking 'where did the summer go?!'

But, I really can't complain... it's been a pretty amazing summer! Spent a month in the States with my love- met some pretty great people and learned a whole lot while I was there, got married!! (and got to spend time with my Grammie, Uncle Dave from Michigan, Nadine, Ang, and Bobby's family), went on a wonderful honeymoon, moved into and got settled in an apartment with my husband, spent a night at the cabin Mom and Dad rented for a weekend and played many rounds of games with my whole family there, and then visited Lissa and Brad in their new home in Regina. Not only did we have a great time with them, but we got to see a whole lot of good friends in the Moose Jaw/Caronport area and had a blast catching up with everyone! None of them had ever met Bobby before so that was neat!

We've done a lot of fun things here in Winnipeg too, like taking a River Boat tour, multiple rounds of free mini golf at the Golf Dome, picnics at the Forks (revisiting our engagement spot!), a trip to the zoo, and many game nights with Mom and Dad. An amazing summer indeed!

Soon, life will change pretty drastically for me... I start school (Providence Bible College) on Wednesday! I know it sounds dramatic when I say drastically, but it really will be a big change for me. I haven't really had a 'work' routine since I came home from Japan... planning a wedding, missionary training, getting married and settled into an apartment have kept me busy, but I've sort of been on my own schedule with waking up and going to bed and taking naps as I please! I've been so spoiled!

I am looking forward to the change... making new friends, learning a whole lot and growing in my walk with God, and hopefully gaining a little more discipline in my life, but I must confess I'm a little nervous about all that too... I'm not very outgoing and I strongly dislike being in new social settings not knowing anyone, and I've also been out of school for a while now... haven't done anything 'academic' since my TESL course in spring 2008. But, God is good and He will take care of me and carry me through this new experience...

He's certainly blessed me with an incredible husband. So patient. So loving. So helpful. Wonderful. I'm so thankful for him and his desire to make me so happy is humbling.

We are both really enjoying married life and we're so grateful for all the time off we've had this summer to adjust to our new life together. God has certainly blessed us. Even though it can be difficult, I really appreciate how marriage really helps to shape you into more of a Christlike image. I've found it tough that when the 'ugly stuff' in me comes out, I actually have to deal with it if I want to be a good wife and please the Lord. I guess all my life whenever I've seen that stuff in myself, I just chose to ignore it because it didn't really affect anyone but myself (or so I thought). But... now it's totally different. In a good way though. Like I said, it's causing me to grow and be more like Christ. Growth is never easy... but boy, it feels good when you look back and see how far you've come. I'm just thankful that I have such a patient husband to help me through this process. I can't say it enough how humbled I am by his love!

I guess I should get going... I will leave you with just a couple teaser pictures from our professional pictures that Eric Dreger took for us :) We LOVE them... but you'll have to come visit us in Otterburne if you want to see all of them!

no, we don't know these people... we were walking through the Exchange District :)

Finished off the photo shoot by visiting our favorite date spot :) Makes my heart happy that we did this!

And there's SOOO many other good ones... but I have to give you some motivation to come for a visit!! ;)

pictures...

2010-08-04T16:09:00.002-05:00

Finally posted pictures on Facebook... enjoy!

adventures in June- http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=232186&id=517722436&l=8a2dc9aac6

pre-wedding activities- http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=232897&id=517722436&l=91f0df0925

the wedding day- http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=233047&id=517722436&l=1d6212310a

life is sweet....

2010-07-29T18:14:00.004-05:00

Hello my blogger friends!

Sorry for the lack of blogs for so long... hopefully I can get some sympathy with the excuse that planning a wedding is a LOT of work, leaving little time for blogging! :)

So... today when I signed in to my blog, the countdown to Bobby and Hillary's new life together was at zero :) Oh how happy that makes me!!

Life is finally starting to slow down and we're enjoying a little bit of rest and settling into our new home for the next couple of weeks. I don't start school until September so we're blessed to have this time to settle in and adjust to our new life together... although I have to say, there really hasn't been a lot of adjusting for us and I'm really thankful for that. We really do make a good team and we're really enjoying our new life as a couple.

I guess I may not have done a very good job of updating my plans for the next year or so... I'll be going to Providence College in Otterburne, MB taking a one year general Biblical and theological studies certificate and Bobby and I are nicely settling into our apartment that we've rented through the school. Come September, I'll be studying and Bobby will be focusing on support raising for us to return to Japan (hopefully next summer) as well as helping out in the Japanese church that's in Winnipeg.

We're really excited about our future, but we're also really enjoying our time of transition right now. We're so blessed to have most of July and all of August to get settled and just enjoy summer together. It's been a wonderful time of rest after a very busy last few months!

Anyway, I still haven't gotten around to posting my own album of pictures on Facebook so I have no links to share, but I will hopefully get around to that sometime in the next few weeks. (We don't have our professional ones yet, but I've got some from our own camera and some from my friends) For now, I'll leave you with one of our favorites that Nadine, one of my bridesmaids, took while we were getting our professional pictures done after the ceremony....

Couldn't be much happier :) Life is good. God is good. I am so blessed. I have an amazing husband. I am so in love...

39 more days!

2010-06-01T12:56:00.002-05:00

It's another exciting day... we moved into the 30's in our countdown now! I can't believe how fast time is flying!! The best part of that is... just 6 more days till Bobby and I get to be together for good now! He is flying home from Japan and I am flying to Maryland for Christar orientation on Monday... we get to meet up in the Chicago airport and fly to Maryland together! So exciting!

I've got a busy week ahead of me, trying to get as much done as possible before I leave (I'll be gone for the rest of June so we only have 9 days before the wedding to get everything done) Everything is going well so far and things are really coming together! I am a terrible planner so this has been quite a task for me... but it's been fun and of course a good growing experience! I'm thankful that my family is so understanding and accommodating and my fiance is so patient with me. I am so blessed!

My church is throwing me a shower tomorrow night so that's exciting! It sure is fun to be a bride :)

Well, I think that's it for now... and this might be the last of my blogs for a while! Don't forget that everyone is invited to the wedding, but RSVP is required! (by June 11) www.theknot.com/ourwedding/HillaryTimmons&BobbyBaden

Have a great summer!! :)

a little surprise!

2010-05-27T00:20:00.005-05:00

Sometime last year while I was still in Japan, Mom found me the best seat sale we've ever seen to fly to Nova Scotia so she booked it for me and I paid her back when I got home... what an awesome decision that was! I kept it a secret, and only told my aunt who is the official 'airport pick-up driver' about a week before my flight.

So... last Monday, I flew to Nova Scotia and surprised my family and friends that I haven't seen for 7 years! I had an amazing time shocking people... it's a family tradition ;)

I had a wonderful time with my family and some church friends. So many precious memories were soaked in. I loved every minute of my time there and the week went way too fast!

Here's the video I took when I walked into my grandparents' house...

So much fun!! :)

and here's just a few of the pictures I took...

I spent the evening with Gwen, Eric, Gillian and Jennifer- friends from church (Gillian is like an older sister to me because she became part of our family when she drove from NS to Saskatchewan when we moved there in 95) We had an incredible time together... I have not laughed that hard in a long time! We skyped Mom and Dad and got them in on the party too! What a blast! and what a blessing that good friends are!

More special church friends from way back... Barb and Larry :)

Had to include this one even though it's almost the same as the last one, but I love the joy that was captured :) I don't remember what was said to make us all laugh, but I love this picture!

Part of the gang that went out for lunch at Wendy's after church :)

This is Victoria Park in Truro... Lissa and I used to go there lots in the summer with Grammie Purdy :)

My lovely second cousin and special friend, Laura :)

Long, long friends... together again!

Auntie Debbie (Dad's sister)

Enjoying the sunny day at my aunt Lorraine's house (Dad's other sister) with Grammie and Lorraine

I got to see my cousin Christopher... sounds sad, but I don't remember the last time I saw him. (he's got a unique character...)

Enjoying some time with Grammie and Grampie (Dad's parents)

And enjoying some time with Mom's side of the family at Auntie Chris's house... these are my cousins, Brett and Blake

Auntie Michele and Brett looking at a decorating magazine with Grammie Purdy :) (yes, Chris's house is always this fabulous!)

Hope that gives you just a tiny taste of my special week! I had a fantastic time... but it was so short!

On the way home, I had a 10 hour layover in Montreal so I ended up meeting up with our old neighbours that Melissa used to babysit for (their kids were 3 and 4 and now they are 16 and 17 I think!) I got to do a little sight seeing so that was great! Boy was I exhausted when my plane finally landed in Winnipeg just after midnight! I was SO ready for bed and slept quite well last night! :)

That's about all I can think of to say about my trip. Thanks to everyone who put me up for the night with little to no notice :) I had a wonderful time with everyone! Can't wait to come back again... hopefully not 7 years from now!

My little love story...

2010-05-12T18:04:00.004-05:00

I've been meaning to do this for a long time, but somehow I keep forgetting! Today I finally posted pictures of the little book that Bobby created for me when he proposed! It's absolutely amazing! He's so creative and I just felt the need to brag about him :) I posted them on Facebook because it would take forever to do it on here, so you can find them here

I've said it before, but I'll say it again because I don't say it enough! God has blessed me with an amazing fiance! Bobby is incredible. He's sweet, romantic, kind, thoughtful, wise, smart, respectful, and so much more! He's a great example to me and has helped me grow in so many ways. I espcecially admire his passionate love for the Lord and how he displays it in all areas of his life.

Just thought I'd share just a glimpse of the amazing blessing that God has brought into my life!

I love you, Bobby Baden!!

wordle...

2010-05-11T22:31:00.003-05:00

One of my friends just posted a wordle picture (makes a picture of a bunch of words from a website or text, and the more frequent a word, the larger it is) she created based on her blog. I had never heard of it before, but it looks really cool! Of course, out of curiosity, I did the same thing. Here's what mine turned out like...

(click to make larger)

I'm not really surprised by it... I think it's a pretty accurate description of my life (except the random words like now and just... apparently I use those a lot!) and I'm pleased to see the words like wonderful, blessed, joy, God, love, and (of course) wedding that did show up bigger :)

Anyway, I just thought this was really neat so I thought I'd post it... you should try it out too! (http://www.wordle.net/)

so many smiles and much to be thankful for :)

2010-05-11T14:18:00.002-05:00

Well, I think I've officially failed at maintaining my Smile Lists since I left Japan! I do still very intentionally thank God for the things that make me smile each day...

Recently I've enjoyed reconnecting with some friends from High School and it's been so wonderful! A lot of my thankful smiles have come from those times of catching up! True friends are such a blessing!!

Wedding plans are still pretty much "my life" these days... just 60 days now!!!! Time is going so fast, and the excitement just keeps growing as details are coming into place! The invitations are in the mail, I had my hair trial on Saturday, found material for my flower girl and bridesmaid dresses, and potentially have a cake/cupcake maker! God is taking such good care of us and providing for us in so many ways!

We've created a wedding website with all of the details of our wedding... please check it out!

http://www.theknot.com/ourwedding/HillaryTimmons&BobbyBaden

Please don't be offended if you don't get an invitation in the mail... we are having an open ceremony and want all of our special friends to be there, but we could only send out so many invitations! If you do plan to attend, please let us know (BobbyandHillary@gmail.com or through the website) as it will make our lives a little easier as we continue to plan.

Things are also falling into place as far as plans for the future. I've applied to Providence and we've already got a place through student housing there! Life is just really exciting these days and God is SO good to us. I can't say it enough... I am abundantly blessed!

We are still trying to figure out immigration details for Bobby's year in Canada and return to Japan. Please keep praying about that with us.

That's pretty much it! Let me know what's going on in your life! Have a lovely week!! :)

rainy days...

2010-04-29T16:10:00.002-05:00

I just love rainy days... when I have nowhere to go that is!

Today is a gloomy, rainy day... but I absolutely love it! There's just something so cozy about the rain. One of my favorite things to on rainy days is get into my comfiest clothes, turn on the fireplace, make a cup of tea and curl up on the couch with a blanket and a book. I love being able to just stay at home on a rainy day, and that's what I get to do today... let's just say I hear the couch calling my name right now!

:)

Birthday blessings :)

2010-04-28T18:39:00.003-05:00

Birthdays are wonderful :) How fun it is to get spoiled and reminded that people love you!

My birthday was on Monday and I had a great one! I'm definitely feeling well loved by many! It was a pretty normal day for me... didn't really do a whole lot during the day. Did some work on invitations, tidied up a little and watched some TV. Talked to my sister and my grandparents on the phone at dinner time and then went out for a lovely dinner at Applebees (my favorite!) with my Mom and Dad :) (Much to Dad's delight and my embarassment, I even got sang to and received a free dessert!)

One of the highlights of my day was something very unexpected! I got a flower delivery! I got a call earlier in the day from a florist asking if I was going to be around for a couple of hours becuase their delivery guys were running behind. So, all day I got to play the guessing game wondering who sent me flowers! Turns out, they were from Bobby! :)

I was thrilled! I love flowers SO much... and I've never gotten them delivered to me before! It was fun :) Here's a glimpse of my beautiful birthday present all the way from Japan...

I am so blessed... I have an amazing fiance! I certainly wasn't expecting this because he had already given me a birthday gift when he was here!

Anyway, just thought I'd say thanks to everyone who made my day special! Thanks for taking the time to make me feel loved! Have a good week! :)

PS- 72 more days!!!

Give me Jesus...

2010-04-22T15:33:00.003-05:00

I just have to say this... we've moved into the 70's in our countdown to the wedding now... just 79 days now!

Ok, I'm sorry my blog posts have been centered around the wedding... I'm trying hard not to get lost in all the little wedding details like flowers, dresses, invitations, guest lists, venues, etc and lose focus of why we're actually planning this special day, but since my world is basically consumed by wedding plans for now, that's all I have to blog about! But, today I've got something to blog about. Something I wanted to share from my quiet time today...

Something hit me today. Something that I've always known, but so often taken for granted.

I am so blessed. God is so good! He has given me a wonderful life with so much to be thankful for. If I was to list all the things I'm blessed to have in my life, my fingers would get sore from typing and your eyes would dry out looking from at the computer screen too long!

Seriously, I couldn't ask for a better life. I couldn't be much happier than I am right now! (People tell me it gets even better when you're actually married so I'm leaving room for improvement!) :P

This afternoon when I was taking a break from printing wedding invitations, I came into my room to hear this Jeremy Camp song playing on the radio. It's always been one of my favorites, but as I watched a few of my most precious and beautiful pictures flash by on my screen saver, I took a minute to soak up God's goodness to me. So many wonderful friendships, a beautiful and loving family, amazing pictures of God's handiwork in creation... I am so blessed!

As the song was playing and I was thinking about all these blessings in my life, it got me to thinking about how often I end up loving my life a little too much... I lose sight of why I'm here in the first place and so quickly forget about what God has in store for me after I leave this world. Today just got me to thinking about the fact that if I think my life on this earth is so wonderful, how much more wonderful will my eternity in Heaven be?! It's going to be so wonderful that it's beyond my comprehension right now!

Another thing stood out to me in my quiet time that I think sort of ties into what I was just talking about, came from the introduction to Philippians written in my Bible:

"In contrast to happiness stands joy. Running deeper and stronger, joy is the quiet, confident assurance of God's love and work in our lives- that He wil be there no matter what! Happiness depends on happenings, but joy depends on Christ."

I'm not quite sure how to connect my two "lessons", but maybe you can...

I guess it just got me to thinking about whether I am filled with joy or happiness right now. If all these wonderful blessings in my life were to suddenly disappear, would I still be as content as I am right now? Would I be content and truly "happy" if all I had was Jesus, like the Jeremy Camp song talks about? Do I currently have joy in my life or is it happiness?

I know it's easier to say this when life is so good and I'm not really facing any trials in my life, but I believe that right now, my heart is filled with joy! Yes, I'm happy, but it goes deeper than that. Jesus is my source of joy!

Thank you Jesus for the gift of joy. Thank you that no matter what our circumstances may be, you abundantly give us joy. Help me to be a woman who exudes joy in my life in all I say and do! I love you!

I found it!!!

2010-04-12T22:08:00.002-05:00

Guess what folks...

I found it! I found my dress today! It was even below what I was budgeting, and off the rack- just like I needed it to be :) God is so good! My family and I were all praying pretty hard today about finding what I needed/wanted, and God answered!

Mom and I went dress shopping today after my Dr's appointment and we ended up going to just two stores. The first store was great... it was my first time ever trying on a wedding dress (or any kind of "fancy dress"!) and the girl had a ton of fun picking dresses for me because I only had a vague idea of what I wanted. The only unfortunate thing was that she was having me try on $1300 dresses that I really liked, but obviously could NOT afford! We left having picked out 2 that I liked, but didn't make any promises of purchasing them.

Then we moved on to another store just down the road and had another great service experience. This time, I didn't try on as many dresses, but had a better idea of what I liked and didn't like. This place had WAY better prices and I was really impressed! I would recommend Theresa's bridal salon to anyone in a heartbeat! I only tried on about 5 or 6 dresses there, and I actually ended up choosing the very first one I tried on.

I really, really like it!! You have no idea how bad I want to post a picture of it but I can't!... it's torture!

It is really neat to see how God is providing for us and taking care of all the details I so easily get worried about. We've set Riverton Gospel Chapel as the location for the ceremony and things are just falling into place! We don't have a lot of money, but God is providing for us! (both in the way of people giving generous gifts and getting things on sale or less than we were expecting!)

So... with less than 3 months to go now, I'm getting more and more excited every day! What I love is that it's not just 3 months away from the wedding, but I'm 3 months away from spending nearly every day of the rest of my life with my best friend! (who happens to be the man of my dreams!) I am so blessed. SO blessed...

3 months from today...

2010-04-10T15:22:00.007-05:00

...I'll be getting married! That's right... we've set the date! July 10th... just 91 days away!
This morning we took Bobby back to the airport and said our goodbyes. Although was incredibly difficult to watch him walk away, it was exciting to think that this is the last time we'll have to say goodbye in an airport! (The next time we see each other, we'll be travelling together!) Just 2 months apart now...

We had an amazing time together... a lot of laughs, special memories and family bonding!

Melissa and Brad were here for Easter weekend so they got to meet Bobby too. It was really fun to be a family of 6! Bobby fits in so well with everyone... almost too well! :P (just teasing!) and I think everyone is really excited to have him as part of our family.

It's amazing how fast 2 weeks go when you're having such a good time. We were able to get a lot of wedding planning done together which of course is fun, but stressful too. I'm certainly blessed to have a groom that really cares and is soooo helpful!

One of the many fun things we did while Bobby was here was a trip to Gimli. We basically just walked around and took pictures and just enjoyed a beautiful day by the water. Here's some of the pictures we took...

Can you tell how happy we are? :P (and that we like being goofy?)

I love this picture of Mom! They quite enjoyed the photo shoot and we got some good ones of them too... still so cute and so in love after 32 years of marriage!

Admiring my beautiful ring...

Can you tell which ones are posed?! :P (I'm a little awkard with photo shoots!)

I couldn't have asked for a more perfect day together! God is so good to us and I'm so grateful for the time Bobby and I could have together over the last 2 weeks.

So I guess I'm doing pretty poorly at posting smile lists these days... but rest assured, I'm still smiling- just not as much today though :(

I'm sure I'll be plenty busy in the next 3 months, but I'm really, really excited about all the future holds! Oh, by the way... yesterday, I found out that I am officially a Christar missionary! :)

Guess I should get going since I haven't really accomplished very much yet today! Enjoy the beautiful weekend!

I'm getting married!! (and this is no April Fool's joke!!)

2010-04-01T22:05:00.007-05:00

I'm sooooo excited to finally announce this:

I'm getting married! Bobby proposed to me yesterday at the Forks and I of course said YES!

So here's the details...

Wednesday started off as a pretty yucky, cloudy/rainy day but ended up turning into an absolutely fantastic sunny day! (I head it was about +17 and we actually both ended up getting sunburnt faces!) We headed off to the Forks around lunch time, and walked around for a little while. Then we found a nice little spot for a picnic, feasted on heart shaped cheese and pickle sandwiches and dill pickle chips, watching the geese and enjoyed the sunshine.

Then, Bobby said he had something for me... he pulled out a little homemade story that he wrote about a "little girl and a little boy" (us) and read it to me. After he finished, he said he had something else for me... he pulled out a little white box, got down on one knee, said a lot of sweet words about me, and asked me to marry him! I started crying as soon as he said my name! :P

I absolutely love my ring! My poor Bobby had little to work with in the surprise department as far as planning a proposal, but he did an amazing job of making it special and romantic! and... he chose the ring all by himself! (we had never looked at rings together)

At this point, we haven't set an official date, but we are aiming for this summer! Bobby will go back to Japan by himself in mid April but will come back to the States in June. In the mean time, I get to start planning!

I'm so excited and couldn't be happier. Only God could have brought us together the way He did! I am beyond blessed to have Bobby Baden as my fiance and I'm really excited to see how God will use us as we serve Him together. So much more could be said.... but I'm speachless! :)

Thank you Jesus for the wonderful life you've given me! :)

a belated birthday tribute...

2010-03-24T14:32:00.006-05:00

In typical "Hillary style"... I managed to put off my Dad's birthday tribute and now I'm a day late! (Sorry Dad!) But... better late than never right?!

I have to start off by saying I think I have the best Dad in the world! He's the first one to admit he's nowhere near perfect, but in my opinion, he's pretty close ;)

I've made a lot of special memories with my Dad over the last 23 years... some are more vivid than others obviously, but they're still special. One of my favorites has always been going fishing in the early morning before he headed off to work. After Lissa was pooped on by a bird one time, it became a 'just Dad and Hill outing' :) Even though I've never been a morning person, I really enjoyed getting up and going fishing. I remember we always listened to Guardian or Petra (our "cool" music) cranked right up (guess that's how we woke up!) and sometimes even leaving the tape in and volume up just to give Mom a little surprise the next time she used the car ;) Sometimes... (ok, it was probably every time!) we stopped at Tim Horton's so Dad could get a coffee and I got a hot chocolate. Those were some special trips, Dad and I'll always be thankful that you were willing to take me with you on your fishing trips and I'll never forget your patience as you tied yet another lure on my line because I got the last one stuck in the mud or tied in with the reeds!

One other very significant time we had together was when we went to Uganda together. It was so special to have Dad share my passion, and see him be stretched in ways he never would have expected. What an incredible experience to be able to introduce him to my African family and show him around Mbale :) Thanks for beeing such a good sport and for displaying a willingness to step out of your comfort zone for the sake of spreading the Gospel. I loved seeing you so fired up after we had gone out with our teammates sharing our testimonies and saw people coming to Christ!

Another thing that I love about my Dad is his "soft side" and compassionate heart. He's always full of sympathy and always looking for ways to help people. He's a great listening ear and has a deep and genuine love for people.

Dad's also quite a trooper when it comes to the dates I drag him on... from taking me to the zoo to going to concerts, he's always willing to do anything to make me happy :) Here's two of my favorite pictures from one of our zoo dates..

Dad sure has taught me a lot of life skills over the years as well... how to throw a football and a baseball, how to drive, and how to love God with all your heart. Thank you Dad for the countless times you've given up your newspaper to play catch with me, put down a book to let me sit in your lap, and most of all, thank you for teaching me how to be a shining light to the world and love others as God loves us!

I love you Dad! Hope you had a fantastic birthday! I'm looking forward to making more memories with you in the years to come! :)

(any guesses who the better skater is??)

another addition of the Saturday smile list :)

2010-03-20T12:01:00.002-05:00

Well hello again! Sorry for the lack of blogs... these days my life isn't too blog-worthy! I've been working on my Statement of Faith for Christar and that's pretty much it! I have certainly enjoyed being at home all week, being able to stay in my pj's all day... and also do things around the house to help out my Momma and make cookies for my Pappa :)

Anyway, I've tried my best to keep track of the things that made me smile this week and here they are...

-discovering that it is not a wise choise to have a blow drier and a straightener running at the same time! what can I say... I was trying to be efficiant with my time and I had my straightener warming up while I was drying my hair! Apparently the breaker didn't like that idea! :P

-spring!!

-finding a birthday present for Dad

-watching a pregnant Mom play with her son and a little bouncy ball on a lovely sunny, spring day

-the sun! funny how you don't realize just how much you love it until it goes away for a while and then comes back!

-laughter and 'inside jokes' with Mom and Dad

-having someone ask me in church during the greeting time how to say Good Morning in Japanese

-a wonderful Sunday afternoon nap :)

-a 3 hour phone call with Ang :)

-Heartland

-Minute to Win It

-The Amazing Race

-having an unlimited long distance plan for anywhere in Canada AND the States! (aka having the freedom to call someone special in Maryland any time I want!)

-wearing my new flip flops around the house just because... ok, so I'm weird... and a little anxious for flip flop season!

-crossing things off a to-do list

-accomplishing goals and finishing things!

-having someone to help me set goals and inspire me to meet those goals :)

-being able to open the windows... and hear birds chirping outside!

-discovering there's a Japanese church in Winnipeg!

-forgiveness

-yummy desserts!

-a spontaneous trip to the park and the mall with Sheila :)

-talking with Drew and Izzy on skype :)

-a big muscular man walking through Wal-mart holding two small potted rose plants..... awwww :)

-new hot pink nail polish for my toes :)

-perfectly timed e-mails ;)

-Mcdonald's breakfast... especially the hashbrown! (and the fact that it was brought home to me by Mom and Dad on Saturday morning)

There you have it... life is still good and I'm loving it!
On a side note... just 9 more sleeps till Bobby comes to Winnipeg! We're finally in the single digits! :) I think we're both equally excited about this visit and I'm pretty sure my family's looking forward to it too.
Have I mentioned that life is beautiful?! :) Hope you get some time to enjoy the sunshine today!

oodles of pictures and oodles of fun!!

2010-03-11T10:29:00.013-06:00

I finally found a wireless connection so since it saved me a lot of time not having to transfer all the pictures to my parents' computer, I decided I better do this today before I get another scolding!

As I said in my 'teaser post', I had a fantastic time in Maryland! I really don't think it could have been any better. It was just a really special time for Bobby and I because we had been apart for 2 months. We were able to do a lot of talking and laughing, went on several dates (something we weren't really able to do a lot in Japan), and just enjoyed doing "everyday stuff" together like going to the grocery store and going to church together.

We also spent a fair amount of time with his family and it was really fun getting to know them. It was really good to meet his younger brother who is battling Leukemia right now (he was in the hospital the whole time I was there, but he got to go home the day after I left). I especially enjoyed spending time with Drew and Izzy, Bobby's nephew and niece. One day we (Bobby and I, his brother and sister in law and the kids) went to this place called "Family Place to Play" where they have a giant climbing structure and super fast slides as well as a few of those big play structures that are blown up with air. We sure had fun and we certainly laughed a lot as the kid was brought out in all of us! We all got a good workout that day and my stomach was aching for a few days after because I had been laughing so much!

Here's a glimpse of the fun we had... Drew and Izzy are SO cute!

Izzy and I...

Drew and I...

Izzy, cute as ever!

bouncing around...

these slides were ridiculously fast!! (I quickly found out why you have to sign a waiver when you go in!)

A few days after that, we went on a little road trip to Hershey, Pensylvania :) We had some Christar staff that we had dinner with about an hour away from there so we stopped at Hershey Chocolate World and a little Hershey history museum. It was really cool! Chocolate World is free (!) and they have a neat little tour that you go on that's kind of like a ride and it explains how they make chocolate. They also have a huge gift store (where we took this first picture) We also went to a 3D show about the history of Hershey. The whole experience was really cool and now I can say I've been to Hershey!

The first of many of our famous self portraits :)

We were having fun trying to get the sign in the background and then a kind stranger came and offered to help us out! :)

Another day we decided to go skating! I found it funny that we had been planning to go skating when Bobby comes to Canada but ended up doing it in Maryland! We had a lot of fun and actually had the rink to ourselves for at least 1/2 the time we were there. It was fun racing and pretending we were Olympic figure skaters :)

Thought this one was cool since it has both of our flags in it (and the Maryland flag!)

What a fine skater! :)

I needed a little break! (We skated for almost 2 hours!)

Then one day we went to Washington and went to some of the free (!) Smithsonian museums. We also went up the Washington Monument (free too!) which was really cool!

One of the views from the top...

Having fun at the bottom... (It was a little cold- can you tell we were freezing?!)

At the museum of natural history, we went to a 3D Imax movie about the ocean... I know, you're jealous because you wish you were as cool as we are!

Because my boyfriend is so amazing and knows how to make me smile, we went into the butterfly exhibit at the same museum and Bobby took some awesome pictures...

Then another day, we went to the zoo in Washington... which was free too! (How cool is that?!)

Couldn't resist posing for this one... and look,

I found my prince!!! :)

Yeah, that's right... we're so cool, you don't have to tell us!

After the zoo, we went home and got dressed up for our first "fancy date" and we went to the Cheesecake Factory :) It was really fun... and of course delicious! Unfortunately, no one was home to take a picture of us so we went for another self portrait :)

We clean up pretty good don't we?! :)

Then on Sunday, since it was such a beautiful day, we enjoyed some time outside at his parent's farm. Bobby took some fantastic pictures of his Mom's crocuses... these are just 2 of them...

We also took some pretty good ones of us... here's 2 of my favorites....

So there you have it... just a glimpse of the amazing time I had in Maryland! Thanks for the many memories, Bobby! I love you!

Now we're looking forward to Bobby's visit to Winnipeg at the end of this month! He'll even get to meet Lissa and Brad because they're coming for Easter :) Boy, it sure is fun being in love! I don't think I could be much happier than I am right now! God is so good...

home again, home again, jiggity jig :)

2010-03-09T10:54:00.002-06:00

I'm back! Apparently I have some readers who didn't like the fact that I didn't post while I was away... so here's just a teaser for you :P
I had a fantastic trip and I don't think it could have been any better!
Unfortunately, all of my pictures are on my laptop so since I need to get them transferred to this computer, you'll have to wait!
I have a few other things I need to work on today so I should probably get going. (I'm so mean!) I promise I'll update better later this week!
Thanks for reading my blog :)

I'm off again!

2010-02-18T14:08:00.003-06:00

These days I feel like a flight attendant...I'm off to the airport again! I get to fly again tomorrow!! :) I'm headed to Maryland and I couldn't be more excited! In case you didn't put it together, I'm going to visit Bobby and meet his family :)
I guess I haven't been the best blogger these days... I just don't have a whole lot to blog about! I'm enjoying life at home again and I'm doing well. I haven't started work yet and I'm not sure when I will! (not that I don't need money, but I just don't have time to work yet!)
I don't know if I'll be doing my smile list for the next 2 weeks, but rest assured, I'll be smiling the whole time I'm gone! :)
Have a great weekend! I'm sure I'll have plenty to post about when I get back since I've never been to Maryland before!
Later Gators!

The Valentine's edition of the smile list...

2010-02-14T17:08:00.002-06:00

It's finally here... my favorite day of the whole year! Happy Valentine's Day :)
I think my smile list for today could be summed up in 4 words...
Valentine's Day and Bobby Baden :)
As cheezy as that sounds, it's true... I'm in love and I love it! Valentine's Day has always been my favorite day and this one was extra special for me!

I sort of forgot to post last night, but hey, better late than never right?!

Here's my smile list...

-I forgot to mention this last week, but... finding Japanese mayo in the grocery store made my day!!

-lots and lots of snow

-the deli at Superstore

-a Superman marathon on TV

-my best friend calling me to tell me she's engaged!!! :D (and having my other best friend on the other line with her!)

-getting asked to be a bridesmaid :)

-Charlie Brown's Valentine's Day special

-wii with Sheila!

-getting a package in the mail :) (and as much as it drives me crazy... having to wait until Valentine's Day to open it!)

-watching a husband wait for his wife at the airport with a rose in his hand :)

-seeing a boy standing at the bus stop holding balloons and flowers.

-a post man walking out of the grocery store with flowers :)

-picking up my sister at the airport :) (it's been over a year since I last saw her!)

-teasing "Uncle Bobby" with Drew on Skype

-a 5 year old's knock knock jokes :)

-family fun and laughs :)

I haven't been keeping very good lists since coming back, but those are just a few of the things that are keeping a smile on my face these days :)

Happy Valentine's Day! Remember... whether you've got a valentine or not, YOU ARE LOVED!!

Saturday morning smiles...

2010-02-06T08:10:00.003-06:00

Good morning :)

It's Saturday morning and here I am... not sure if I'm coming or going these days! I just got home last night from 4 days in Ontario for debriefing (yes, I was home for 2 days, then left again!) and now I am feeling pretty out of it! I've had a little time to rest up, but I still feel pretty exhausted... probably more emotionally exhausted than physically though as I've got a lot on my mind and my heart.

But, all that to say... I'm still smiling! Although this list is shorter than usual because I haven't been keeping track, I've had plenty of smiles this week! :) Here you go!

-feeling Cher's baby hiccup in her belly! (coolest thing ever!!!!)

-talking to Yumi on Skype :) ...and having a Japanese/English lesson

-West Jet flight attendants... they told jokes as they did the safety procedure demo and as we were waiting on the runway!

-an older couple in Wal-Mart 'discussing' garbage bags... the old man was running out of patience and said in a very funny way "What do you need the bags for???" and the lady very calmly tried to explain the various things she uses them for! They were there for a long time!!

-sharing my pictures with the Christar gang... and all the hassling I got about Bobby :)

-a very cute little boy showing off his boots to me at the airport

-getting the same flight crew on my flight to Winnipeg as I had on my flight to Hamilton! There were even 2 of the same passengers!

-Valentine's displays all over the place :D It's coming soon!!!!

-a Wendy's burger, an A&W poutine, and dill pickle chips all in one night... can you tell I was in need of some comfort food?! :)

so, as predicted, it's short this week, but I'm still smiling!
Have a wonderful weekend!

1st edition of the smile list from Canada :)

2010-02-01T09:54:00.004-06:00

Well hello from Canada :)
Yup, I made it home safe and sound and now I'm trying to deal with extreme weather shock! :P
I know it's a little late this week, but I haven't had much of a chance to post my smile list until now!
I had a good trip home... it was long, but I'm happy to be with my family again!
So, without any further ado, (that's a funny phrase!) here's my smile list :)

-watching a little girl listen to a Bible lesson, hearing the Bible for the very first time :)

-Mrs W recalling the time when I taught her the phrase "backseat driver", saying that I was a good English teacher! :P

-finding $30 US in my money belt from last year!

-my AMAZING teammates :)

-a lady who chatted away to me on the phone for 2 whole minutes before allowing me to tell her I was a foreigner and I don't speak Japanese! (I felt bad, but I think she was pretty embarrassed after!)

-a breakfast picnic in my living room with the Reisters

-words of affirmation

-sleeping in a "real" bed for the first time since October

-crawling into a toasty warm bed thanks to an electric blanket :)

-a little rest in the sun streaming through the window

-Blitz :) ok, so maybe being the winner by a mile is what made ne smile :)

-falling asleep to the sound of the pouring rain :)

-watching Napoleon Dynamite with Bob and Teresa... Bob loves it as much as my Dad and Teresa hates it as much as my Mom... it was a blast!

-the ground crew in at the Fukuoka airport waving and bowing as the plane drove away

-having a whole row of seats to myself (both sides)

-friendly flight attendants :)

-know how there's a little cloth over the head rest of every seat... well there was a sweet little baby making a game out of pulling it off and making his mom put it back on and he was just loving it!

-getting free post cards from the airline :) (I'm such a nerd!)

-seeing Mt Fuji for the first time in real life! (it was on the other side of the plane that I was on, but I was able to switch over to the other side and got a great view of it!) :)

-watching a man help an older lady lift her carry on up into the over head compartment

-a sweet little 7 month old baby girl with a cute little pink pony tail :)

-Mom and Dad bringing me a helium balloon at the airport but accidently losing it as they walked into the airport doors (they pointed it out to me at the top of the ceiling as we were leaving!)

-Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs :)

-going to church at Elim again... and having one of my former Sunday school girls ask me if I visited any churches while I was in Japan :) She's so sweet!

-spending the day at Siloam with my Momma :)

So there you have it for this week... I hope to keep this up! Hold me accountable to it!!
Keep smiling :)

2010-01-23T06:47:00.002-06:00

Well, the smiles just keep coming... even in the midst of a week of goodbyes! God is SO good to me.... Here's my smile list!

-sharing a 'testimony' for the first time during the time in church when we share prayer requests and praises

-little babies with full heads of fuzzy hair

-a stubbron Basset Hound... actually I think it was the little old man trying to drag him on a walk made me smile more than the dog did!

-eating dessert overlooking the water

-sunsets and beautiful views

-hearing songs that remind you of someone

-having company over for dinner

-having 3 single girls oooh and ahhh over my cooking :)

-hosting my teammates for dinner... enjoying a few hours of good fellowship with much laughter and many stories of 'missionary legends' of the past :P (of course no names were mentioned though!)

-shopping adventures with Teresa (Bob's patience made me smile too!)

-getting a free pair of cute socks at a little gift shop because the lady found out I am leaving next week :)

-so many people paying for my meals!-flower shopping :)-a proud grandma showing off pictures of her grandaughter

-Brent McCoy's love song... http://thebrentmccoy.blogspot.com

-"Friday Night" fun! :)

-home made cards from my English class kids... they are absolutely amazing!!

-the mothers of the English class students staying after my farewell lunch to ask me questions all about my "love story" :)

-Sona chan giving me hugs and letting me hold her for a group picture... she was so sweet and leaned her head on my cheek for one of them... my heart melted!

-laughing about eating corn with chopsticks with Eri chan :)

-treating someone else to dinner for a change this week!

I've got plenty to do tonight so I need to quit procrastinating and get to work!
Thanks for keeping up with my smiles :) Have a great weekend!

I just like to smile... Smiling's my favorite :)

2010-01-16T07:04:00.003-06:00

Hehehe just thought I'd quote Elf to start off my list this week!
Here's my smile list for this week! As usual, my life is full of reasons to smile and I'm so thankful for that... can you imagine what life would be like without laughter and smiles??

-watching grandma Okamoto (an 83 year old lady with no teeth) enjoy her piece of birthday cake topped with whipped cream :) she had it all over her lips!

-the satisfaction of cooking a meal with all 4 food groups!

-figuring out how to take my electic toilet seat off and giving my toilet a good cleaning... and then figuring out how to put it back on all by myself!

-catching up with friends on skype

-drinking cherry Kool-Aid :) (I intentionally made it stronger and sweeter than it's supposed to be!)

-the satisfaction of 'deep cleaning' :)

-planning surprises! (no, I can't tell you what I've done... that would ruin the surprise!) I just have to say that putting this little surprise together made me smile because it was fun!

-Valentine's Day displays being set up at the Dollar store... YAY! it's less than one month away now!! :)

-Dollar store treasures... like a new toilet brush and holder! (yeah, doesn't take much to excite me!) and yes, that makes two things about toilets on my smile list... oh dear! :P

-making conversation with "my" grocery clerk

-getting "real mail" :)

-making poutine and chicken strips... and blogging about it! :)

-Pastor Nakamura forbidding me to eat okonomiyaki this week because our conversation class is going out for okonomiyaki next week... guess he wants me to make sure I don't get sick of it!

-a bright new light on my bike :)

-Dad gagging as Melissa told him about what she did at work that day (she's a nurse!)

-ganging up on Dad with Lissa and Mom and making him do his little "ah-heh-heh-heh"

-having a conversation about how to spell Dad's "ah-heh-heh-heh" :)

(Can you tell we were pretty much laughing during our entire 3 way call??!)

-Teresa's nostalgic moments of passionately singing along to the Carpenters music playing at Jolly Ox :)

-Bob beating Teresa and I at Blitz... but that NEVER happens right Bob?! :P

-getting together with friends for meals

-hosting guests

-a tickle fight with Towa kun.... I obviously won because I made him beg for mercy! :P

-finding out one of my students is going to come to church with me next week :)

-having so many dinner and lunch plans that I don't have to think about making a meal for myself for the next week! (except for the 2 nights I am having company over for dinner)

Just 2 weeks from today I'll be sitting on a plan on my way to Winnipeg!! I know I've said it lots, but time is seriously flying!! I am enjoying all of the fun plans I have with friends and making the most of my last few days here... but boy it's busy!

Anyway, speaking of busy, I should be doing something a little more productive than blogging!
Have a wonderful weekend! and don't forget to take some time to enjoy the things that make you smile! :)

I think I'm in heaven...

2010-01-13T07:17:00.004-06:00

ok, maybe just back in Canada!!

Folks... I just made my favorite meal... poutine and chicken strips here in Japan tonight!

This is how much I was looking forward to it...

Here's the final product... (yes, my chicken strips are probably classified as nuggets, but I don't care!)

Yes, I'm a nerd... but I know it, so that makes it ok right?! You can tell I'm excited because I just addressed my blog audience as 'folks'... I never to that!

I could have thought ahead a little more and maybe I wouldn't be eating my dinner at 10:25, but hey, it was well worth the wait!! I even had slightly BBQ flavored ranch to dip my chicken strips in! (thanks to one tiny pack of McDonald's BBQ sauce!) Best part is... I have enough to make this meal all over again!! :)

I'm just sad that I don't have anyone to enjoy it with........... ok, maybe not THAT sad! ...more for me! :P

Funny how all of the sudden all of my 'favorites' are coming up recently.... favorite movie, favorite meal... what's next?! :P

ok, enough showing off my nerd side! I'm off to enjoy some more delicious food! :)

Fun at the grocery store...

2010-01-13T03:14:00.004-06:00

Today, I made a quick stop by the grocery store because my fridge was a little barren. As I was checking out, I attempted to make conversation with one of the clerks that has become one of my favorites. I was feeling quite proud of myself for actually using some of my Japanese (I have to admit I am overly shy about speaking Japanese and I don't use it nearly as much as I should) when the conversation suddenly went in an unexpected direction...

she asked me what I was making for dinner tonight (since I was buying frozen french fries, grated cheese and chicken). Hmm.... how does one explain "poutine and home made chicken strips" in Japanese??!! :P Good luck with that one!

I decided not to bother trying (since there was someone waiting in line behind me) and went with the "I don't know yet" answer!!

Anyway, I'm excited to make poutine and chicken strips for dinner tonight! (I recently enherited some gravy mixes from a missionary that's leaving the field soon) Sure... 2 1/2 weeks before I leave Japan I finally get to make my favorite Canadian food! :P

My days are slowly filling up with lunch and dinner dates, trying to get in as many special goodbyes as possible! I was thinking I wouldn't have that many, but now that everyone is replying to my e-mails, my calender is looking pretty full! ...but I'm thankful for that because that means that I've made a lot of meaningful relationships this year! :) Thanks for praying for me as I finish up here... for this chapter of my life anyway!

By the way... it's FREEZING here!! It snowed again today! (this is really unusual!) My computer says it's 1 but feels like -4... I'm sure it's colder than that with the nasty wind we've got today. Oh yikes... what am I going to do when I get back to WINNIPEG??!! (I'm assuring myself that it's a "different" kind of cold here and that I'll be fine....)

it's official...

2010-01-11T06:19:00.007-06:00

...Anne of Green Gables is my favorite movie! (I like all of them but I think the second one is my favorite)

I don't know why I always forget about Anne of Green Gables when someone asks me what my favorite movie is, but as I'm watching them right now, I've rekindled my love for these movies and I'm officially declaring them my favorite now :)

No other movie makes me as giddy as Anne of Green Gables does! I love Anne's dramatic flare and I definitely feel a connection to her because we both have red hair :) (and I'm sure some might say we share the 'strong will' that goes with it!) Of course I love the story of Anne and Gilbert and their years of banter that turns into romance.

My middle name is actually Anne... of course spelled the "romantic way" with an 'e' as Anne says!

I really don't know why I haven't actually bought the DVD's yet... but I'll certainly be searching for them when I get home! :)

Anyway, if you've never seen the Anne of Green Gables series, you definitely need to! I know you'll love them! (but probably not as much as I do though!)

i almost forgot!

2010-01-09T03:05:00.002-06:00

Wow, that was a close one... I almost forgot to post my smile list today! I sort of forgot it was Saturday... all my days are blending together now that I don't have a regular routine of teaching!

As a random fact... I leave Japan 3 weeks from today!! I'm trying to balance the excitment of all that is coming up in the next few months with making the most of my last 3 weeks here. Of course I'm sad to leave Japan because it has been my home for the last year and I love it here, but I'm also really looking forward to being with my parents and friends again. I haven't said many "final" goodbyes yet because I'm getting togther with friends throughout the next 3 weeks, but it makes things easier knowing that I will be returning eventually!

Anyway, here's my smile list for this week. I think it's a little shorter than usual, but that's only because I haven't been as faithful at writing things down!

my smile list this week could probably be summed up in two words every week... and this one's no different...

-Bobby Baden :)

Ok, so there were a few other things/people that made me smile too!

-pictures of a dog frolicking in the snow for the first time

-watching Bobby and Drew exchange "secrets"... I think I like Drew's secrets better than Bobby's :P

-Bobby's reaction when checking the Winnipeg weather forecast... think he can be convinced it might warm up in February?? :P

-making myself dizzy taking the lights off of the Christmas tree!

-enjoying a peaceful afternoon of de-decorating the church listening to worship music

-Bob's chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast before our team prayer meeting :)

-the victory of successfully taking apart the Christmas tree and getting it to fit back in the box all by myself! (with God's help)

-more snow!! (this time just flurries)

-Teresa giving me a vanilla softlips chapstick and some of her french vanilla cappucino mix!! (she reeeeally loves me!) :)

-watching Finding Nemo

-the curiousity I stirred up with my last post... ;)

-hearing a lady tell her dog to hurry up when he was looking for a place to pee!

-a cute little boy with bed head sleepily following his mom through the train station

-telling my Japanese teacher that I made a computer yesterday instead of used one! :P We got a good laugh out of that one!!

-the feeling of that first step into a hot bath :) oh the bliss of a hot bath on a cold night!

-the English on my body wash that says "please enjoy the bus time"... I think they mean BATH!

-a conversation with my Mom and my sister about old underwear... I'll spare the details... but let's just say I had a good, long laugh with them! :)

-sharing lunch with two good friends and going shopping at second hand stores after

-keeping up with my New Year's resolution :)

Thanks for taking the time to read through my smile list... hope you had a good week of smiles too! Feel free to share some with me! Enjoy the weekend! :)

Just thought I'd throw this out there...

2010-01-06T11:13:00.001-06:00

anyone know of a good immigration lawyer???

Everything...

2010-01-04T23:07:00.003-06:00

Today I've been working on some adminstrative stuff on "my computer" (techincally it's Bobby's but he's given it to me to use since mine crashed in October) and I've been listening to music. One of the benefits of a borrowed computer is "new" music :) I've been enjoying a new variety of music and today one song in particular stood out to me so I wanted to share the lyrics...

"Everything" by Bebo Norman

When day is over I'll be the color in the sky
If darkness lingers I'll be the flame that gives you light

I just want you to notice
I just want you to feel the same
I just want you to notice
That I just want to be your everything
I just want to be your everything

On my shoulder
There is a place for you to cry
I'll be your shelter
When there is nowhere left to hide
Sometimes I see you cry
When you watch the sun go down
You're magical, so beautiful, and I...

just want you to notice
I just want you to feel the same
I just want you to notice
That I just want to be your everything
I just want to be your everything
When day is over I'll be the color in the sky

For some reason I really like this song. I guess it was a good reminder to me of how much God really loves me and more aware of how He shows me that. How often do I (we) go through life just so busy, not taking the time to simply tell God we love Him. He does so many things to get our attention... especially in the simple things like a beautiful flower or a gorgeous sunrise or sunset... but do we really take the time to notice them, and notice His hand in them?

I'm just as guilty of this as the next guy, allowing myself to get caught up in the busy-ness of daily life (especially being in full time ministry!) so this song was a good reminder to me to take some time and tell God how much I love Him and how grateful I am for His love.

It's amazing what human relationships can teach us about God. I've been thinking a lot lately about how much it means to me to hear someone say they love me, or do something to show me they love me. I think all humans desire/need to be loved and be reminded that they are loved. Not that God "needs" us to tell Him we love him, but I've been reflecting on how it makes God feel when I show Him/tell Him that I love Him... I imagine that it's impossible for me to say or show it too many times and that He will never get tired of me telling Him or showing Him that I love him. I like thinking about how much joy it brings to God when I use those three little words for Him :)

When was the last time you told God you love Him? Take some time today to notice the ways He shows you that He loves you... and thank Him for those things! :)

the first edition of Hillary's smile list in 2010 :)

2010-01-02T01:34:00.004-06:00

Happy New Year!

Here's my first smile list of 2010! enjoy...

-sitting in the sunshine that was coming in through the window in church (I'm like a cat... except I couldn't fall asleep since I was in church!)

-Mrs K putting her hand on my knee as someone prayed for Bobby in church :) (she's really looking out for me!)

-Mrs K saying (with much pride and in English) "My best friend is Baden Sensei!!" (Bobby)

-Masanobu kun 'sharing' half of his Christmas orange with me... (sounds sweet of him, but really it was because he didn't want it!)

-a road trip with a group of 3 friends that have welcomed me into their group without hesitation :)

-beautiful pink and fluffy clouds at sunset

-being told that my Japanese is beautiful... after saying just 2 words!! :P

-a 'gentle' transition from Christmas music to regular music on the radio station I listen to (every 4th or 5th song is a Christmas song)

-spending the day in my pj's :)

-catching up on e-mail replies!!

-"mingling laundry"

-"bloated barley" in our turkey soup!

-"I was fast like lightening!!" ~Natalie while playing Blitz (can't quite capture the humility in her voice when it's typed out though!)

-my terrible video game skills showcased while playing Mario brothers with Natalie... I got the hint when she asked if I wanted to play another game! :P

-waking up, pulling back the curtains and FINALLY seeing snow falling!!!

-taking part in the annual Chistar Japan Field New Year's party tradition of playing Bunko!

-a sleepover with a good friend... this time she didn't have to go out and buy milk for her coffee... I was a little more prepared this time!

-missing the countdown by 4 minutes because I couldn't find an official countdown in time! oops!

-getting an e-mail from one of my best friends that I've known since grade 4 containing a picture of her and Bobby standing beside each other at Urbana... God is amazing! :)

-making new friends pretty much instantly :)

-hearing stories of how my parents surprised their family in Nova Scotia on Christmas day

-Brad walking in on my skype conversation with Lissa just in time to hear me say "My bum hurts!" (Let me give a little background for that one... I had been sitting on the floor for about 3 hours!)

-using up all my cell phone minutes the day before they expire :) no wasting here!!

-getting a friends' wedding ceremony program and a favor in the mail with a picture of her and another girl I was in Africa with :) (Thanks for your thoughtfulness Amber!)

Hope you've had a good week of smiles too!

You're not doing very good at commenting by the way! (except for my faithful family members and my boyfriend!) Come on all you 'stalkers'... make yourselves known by telling me what you did for New Year's! :P

Look what I woke up to!!!!

2009-12-30T19:17:00.003-06:00

It finally happened!!! I woke up to snow!!

Every morning when I get up, the first thing I do is peek out my curtains so see what the day looks like. Every time for the last few weeks, I've been dreaming of opening my curtains and finding snow falling... and this morning it finally happened!! I woke up, and it was snowing... a lot!!! First it started like this...

then it got better and better....

It hardly ever...(practically never) snows in Hirao but it snowed for at least an hour today!! (and perhaps more before I woke up!) It didn't stick to the ground or anything, but it was enough to make me giddy for the rest of the day! I absolutely loved it! At one point the snowflakes were so big and fluffy and it was what my Mom and I call "shakey-ball snow" :)

Anyway, just thought it was necessary to share my excitement this morning! Happy New Year!! :)

Christmas makes me smile :) *new addition at the end!

2009-12-26T03:43:00.004-06:00

Obviously because this week was Christmas, I had lots to smile about! Although this Christmas was quite different from any other Christmas I've had, it was a really special one! I have to admit that it didn't quite feel like Christmas without snow :( I got a rainy Christmas, which is something I am not used to at all!

Christmas Eve was a really special night... the candle service was beautiful, and it was wonderful to see so many people come to church... especially the husband of one of the church ladies that said he was never going to come to church again (he stuck to his word for 5 years, but decided to come to the Christmas Eve service for some reason!) I also had a really nice late night walk on a crisp clear night, enjoying some Christmas music and soaking in the wonder of the reason why we celebrate Christmas.

Then Christmas day, I opened the two presents I had under my tree, had a wonderful quiet time, and then I got picked up to go to my teammates house to spend the day with them! We had a delicious brunch, opened some presents, and then played Blitz. Then we all sort of did our own thing mid afternoon (I got to have a nap!) and then we got ready for turkey dinner... which was delicious!! Then we cleaned up, and played another game that involved a lot of laughter (but I forget the name of it).

Today I helped with the two kids' Christmas parties we had and now I'm pretty tuckered out... actually I'll be honest and say I'm "peopled out"! I'm looking forward to a quiet evening at home tonight before another busy day tomorrow!

Anyway, here's my smile list for this week... enjoy!

-watching a 3 year old girl explain the nativity scene to her Dad

-a room filled with candles

-singing Christmas carols in another language

-pictures of Bobby's house in Maryland displaying the aftermath of a great big snow storm :)

-a picture of a message for me written in the snow :)

-snuggling down in my nest of blankets first thing in the morning

-the "Merry Christmas"stickers all over everything in the grocery store... and Christmas isn't even a holiday here!

-a thick layer of frost still on the ground at 8:45 in the morning... no wonder my nose was cold! (and I mean when I was in my house!)

-watching two old men getting ready to pounce on the reduced food as the grocery clerk was putting 1/2 price stickers out...but I will confess I was doing the same thing, just from a further distance! (reminded me of our Sunday Superstore trips, Mom and Dad!)

-my obsession with English muffins and the need I feel to stock up on them while I can!

-a celebratory dinner with Yumi after she finished all of her classes and parties :)

-keeping Yumi awake on the drive home from that dinner... she didn't like me very much! (I turned the music up and down, turned the temperature down as far as it could go, and kept her talking!!)

-singing silent night in Japanese by candle light

-discovering a calpis ice cream bar :)

-a late night Christmas Eve walk

-finding out that my radio station is extending their 24/7 christmas music until Sunday! (I was thinking it was going to be so sad to not have any more Christmas music after Christmas day!)

-playing dutch blitz with some tough competition!

-engagement stories :)

-being such good friends with someone that I can nap on their couch without feeling guilty!

-teddy bears and snuggly slippers :)

-watching a dad carry his sleeping baby to the car ever so carefully :)

-having another successful conversation with my "friend" at the bakery!

-this video I saw on someone's blog...

It made me laugh how she was laughing at herself... but she was pretty funny!

How was your Christmas?? Since you didn't tell me your plans for Christmas Eve, here's your chance to tell me what you did for Christmas!! ;)

Hope you had a Merry Christmas!

My second favorite day of the year :)

2009-12-23T07:58:00.002-06:00

Tomorrow is my second favorite day of the year (after Valentine's Day)... Christmas Eve! Call me crazy, but I think I like Christmas Eve better than Christmas Day! I guess I just love the anticipation of Christmas being the next day. I hate the Christmas is over way faster than most people would like it to be... and when it's over, it's over- life goes back to normal shortly after! :( (My decorations will stay up at least until New Year's though because I like them so much... snowmen and snowflakes can also double as 'winter decorations right?'

I also have a lot of special memories of going to my aunt's house on Christmas Eve with my Mom's side of the family. I don't really remember what we did, but my aunt Chris always had something fun for Lissa and I to do... usually a craft project :) and, she always had amazing food for us! (although sometimes we were her gineau pigs and it wan't always a positive thing!)

We've also always gone to church on Christmas Eve, which I've always loved too! In the years since we left Nova Scotia where all my family is, we've always made Christmas Eve a relaxing day (or evening I guess since usually some or all of us usually have to work) and after coming home from church we eat a ton of appetizers (instead of dinner) and just relax, stay up late, watch Christmas specials on TV and/or play games together :)

Anyway, I just wanted to give a little tribute to Christmas Eve since it's tomorrow!! I'm looking forward to it, although it'll be different than usual for me since I'm in Japan! Tomorrow morning/early afternoon I am hoping to get a few random things done, and then I'm going to help set up for our candle light service in Hikari... We will have a candle light service in the evening, then a potluck after it... then I think I'll probably come home, watch a Christmas movie and go to bed :)

On a side note, my teammates have so graciously opened up their home to me so that I have somewhere to spend Christmas day... we'll have brunch, chill and play games, then have turkey dinner together :)

Also, I've got a few skype dates in there too... obviously Mom and Dad, Bobby and his family, hopefully Lissa, and I'm hoping to catch Mom's side of the family at either their Christmas Eve gathering or their Christmas Day dinner.

I'm doing pretty good as far as not feeling homesick, which is a real blessing! Although I miss my family and Bobby, I think I'll be just fine :) I did afterall, ask God to provide for me to stay here over Christmas and He did just that so I have no right to complain! And besides, I'm thankful that I have a family to miss! Thank you for your prayers :)

I finally got around to making my Christmas card display yesterday... here's what I came up with:

(from a distance)
(the middle)
(the right)
(and the left)
I have to say thanks to Dayna K for the inspiration :) What do you think? and what do you do on Christmas Eve?

Another Christmas favorite...

2009-12-20T04:35:00.003-06:00

The other day I heard this Casting Crowns song on the radio and I remembered how much I love it! (It came out last year I think, but I hadn't heard it again until last week) Again, I feel the need to share it with you! Turn it up really loud... I love the orchestra music- it's powerful and beautiful!

Enjoy! (and let me know what you think after!)

Still smiling :)

2009-12-19T06:05:00.003-06:00

Although this week started off with more tears than smiles, I'm doing much better now and my smile list is once again pretty long! I'm so thankful for the gift of joy! God has given me so much of it :)
Here's a glimpse of what made me smile this week...

-playing the "newlywed game" with my co-workers... Bobby and I had a slight disadvantage!!

-singing "The Twelve Days of Christmas" with everyone at our field Christmas party (each person sang one line)

-making special 'last minute memories' before saying goodbye

-opening a few early Christmas presents

-an old grey haired man with a mullet

-English class Christmas/farewell parties... and getting presents!

-new additions to my Christmas decor :)

-teammates who offer to pick up McDonald's for breakfast for you on the way to a 7:00 team meeting! :)

-teammates who patiently wait for me to get ready after having just woke up when the doorbell rang when they came to get me for this 7:00 prayer meeting! (my alarm was in between the on and the off setting so it didn't go off after I re-set it when it went off the first time!

-lively conversations around the table over an amazing potluck lunch with my students

-a very sweet homemade DVD a friend made for me :) and news that this friend has signed up for Bible study!!!

-divine Skype appointments!

-being in my pj's by 6:30 pm :)

-watching a 3 year old fight falling asleep in the car... and losing!

-seeing a few snowflakes falling :)

-making someones day by giving them cookies

-Dad spontaneously telling me I'm beautiful when he saw me on skype :) (when my hair was 'post-shower' and I had no make up on!)

-recalling Mom's 'self hair cutting story'... note to self Dad: Never leave Mom home alone with scissors!!

-"I didn't do it Paul!" (I know, that's only funny to me and my parents...definitely a family joke!)

-dropping one of my chopsticks on the floor and having the lady next to me tell me that it'll cost me 100yen for another pair! :P

-having the church ladies 'grill' me about how things got started between Bobby and I, asking all sorts of questions like what our first impressions of each other were and we call each other now! They said it was fun to ask me all these questions because their daughters don't talk to them about this kind of thing :)

-a sweet lady in the church paying for my lunch as my Christmas present :)

-finding a surprise present under my tree! (Guess I chose the right people to give my spare key to!)

-knowing that I'm being looked out for while Bobby's gone :) (thanks Aki!)

-unexpected skype dates with a handsome young man in Maryland :)

-faithful smile list bloggers :) (that didn't even need the friendly reminder I was planning to give!!)

-finding out that I made someone smile!

-being told I'm a fun e-mail writer :)

-helping Yumi with her Christmas parties... forcing 7 year olds to speak English is always so fun :P

-eating Pizza Hut pizza and raspberry chocolate chip ice cream for dinner

-helping a friend decorate her house for Christmas

-joking with teammates

and last but certainly not least...
-daily reminders that I'm loved and missed :)

As ususal, I'm sure I've forgotten things and there's also things that I've left out on purpose due to fear of embarrassing someone! Again, I'm thankful that God has given me so much to smile about! He is so good to me :)

What made you smile this week?

27 years ago today...

2009-12-17T07:46:00.003-06:00

God gave me my big sister :) (although I wasn't born yet!)

Happy Birthday Lissa!! I just wanted to let you (and the world!) know how much I love you and how thankful I am that you were born 27 years ago today!

Thanks for being such an amazing big sister! You are a wonderful example to me and I really appreciate how you're always there when I need advice! You are a good role model for me as you are an excellent Godly wife and you desire to please God in all areas of your life.

Even though we weren't the best of friends growing up, I have always had an admiration for you. One of my most vivid childhood memories is standing at the top of the hill that we lived on, watching you walk to school after lunch and waiting until I couldn't see you anymore... then I had to go in and have a nap! I was always sad to see you go because I loved having you around!

As we got older, and we got less and less "cool" for each other, I still admired you. I always wanted to hang out with your friends and I was so excited when you got your license... and your first boyfriend! I remember spying on you! (as I'm sure you do too since I think you caught me once or twice!)

I think that our relationship started changing when we were finally in High School together... you were in Grade 12 and I was in Grade 9. Usually, Grade 12's just looked down on Grade 9's and never associated with them, but you really made an effort to make me and my friends feel welcome in your school. I will always appreciate how you wrote me so many Care Cards just to wish me a good day, and how you let me sit with you and your friends in chapel... sometimes! :P I think we even went on a few "sister dates" didn't we? :)

After High School, I was both excited and really sad when I found out you were getting married and moving out. Even though you were just one block away, I really, really missed you when you moved out! I remember being so sad when I looked at our cup of 3 toothbrushes instead of the usual 4.

But, I think that again, this big change for you brought a change in our relationship... for the better! Not having you around every day made me appreciate you even more and it made us closer at heart. Over the last 7 years we've been through many ups and downs but thankfully, we're still on good terms, and we still love each other like crazy! We've been physically far apart for a good chunk of those 7 years, but you've always been so good at reminding me how much you love me and our visits together have been extra special.

I think we're at the most "fun" stage of our relationship... we have so much to relate to each other about, and it's been a real blessing to have you share the joys (and sorrows) of the last couple of years with me. I feel so blessed to have gotten something that so many people never get... a big sister! There's something special about the relationship between sisters and I wouldn't trade it for the world!

I love you so much Lissa and I'm so proud to be your little sister! I hope your day is extra special... just like you!

cultural differences... and delightful Christmas presents!

2009-12-16T03:14:00.004-06:00

let's face it. some cultural differences are just plain hard to deal with!

Today, I was told by one of my students that he thought I "ate like a horse". hmm what does one say to that?!

We were having a potluck lunch at our farewell/Christmas party today and when everyone was trying to offer me seconds, this kind man offered me a plate of something and was surprised when I turned it down and said I was full... that's when he said he thought I ate like a horse. I'll also mention that in a previous class, he's compared me to a sumo wrestler!

I think this man has a few things to learn about the sensitivity of women and their size!! I'm already really insecure about my size so I have to confess that although this was probably an innocent 'cultural mistake', it really hurt... and it's hard to brush off. I had to deal with this a lot when I was in Africa too, but for some reason it just hurt a little more today. Perhaps lack of sleep is once again effecting my emotions! :P

Anyway, on a happier note... I want to proudly display part of my Christmas present from Bobby because I love it so much! It makes me smile every time I see it!

Isn't it the cutest advent calendar ever?! I love it :) And guess where it's from... the dollar store!! (although it was a little more than a dollar!)

Thanks for sharing the ups and downs of my day! :)

a little lonely...

2009-12-15T01:26:00.005-06:00

Today was a rough day... it's the day I've been wishing would never come since September (or maybe sooner).

Bobby left for his furlough this morning. Now we've got 2 months apart. (He's coming to visit me in Winnipeg in February!) We did have some 'down time' this morning before he left (thanks to our amazing teammates!), but it went so fast and before I knew it, we were waving goodbye at the train station.

I had to 'put on a happy face' almost right after we said goodbye because I had an English Christmas/Farewell party to get ready for. I have to say it wasn't easy to pretend to be all fine and dandy, but the party still went well I think. I've been super busy the last 2 weeks (and I'm in the middle of another busy week) and I'm running on very little sleep so that's not really helping the emotions!!

I feel silly for the little pity party I'm having right now because it is only 2 months... in fact I'd probably roll my eyes at someone else who wrote a post like this! But... this is my first serious relationship and now I know what it feels like to be so attached to someone it just hurts to be apart! (like family!) I've gotten so used to having Bobby just 5 minutes away, and now he'll be a whole ocean away. I'm really thankful that we've got skype and e-mail... but this is still hard... harder than I was expecting I think. I know this furlough is necessary, and since his family is going through some rough times right now, I'm really glad that he can be there with them.

I do need to be thankful... I need to be thankful that we're both still alive, and that even though we're reeeeally far apart physically, we'll be thinking about each other often and we'll still be able to let each other know how/what we're doing every day. I'm so blessed to be Bobby's girlfriend and he is so wonderful to me... it's going to take some getting used to things without him here.

After Bobby's visit to Winnipeg, I'll be going to Maryland to see him and meet his family probably at the beginning of April, just before he goes back to Japan... that's when it'll get really hard because we've got such an unknown future after that! I'll be going to Bible school somewhere from September to April...

But... we'll make it just fine! God has brought us together, and He'll continue to guide our paths!

Anyway, sorry for this little pity party... anyone with any long distance relationship experience, please comment and give me some advice! :)

Thankfully I've got special memories like this one to hold on to... Thanks for this fun little picnic, Bobby :) I miss you!

I'm off to make a cup of peppermint tea and snuggle up in my new super soft purple blanket (thanks for feeding my blanket addiction Bobby!)... and maybe study for my Japanese class tomorrow! :)

2009-12-13T05:34:00.003-06:00

hello again! Sorry I'm a little late with my smile list this week... I went to Kobe yesterday and didn't get back until 3 am! But, here's what made me smile last week:

-people who talk to me in complete Japanese, thinking that I can understand them... I'm looking forward to the day when I can!

-bowling... and losing terribly!

-discovering another difference between my American teammates and I... they've never heard of 5 pin bowling!

-Masuyuki san's hilarious antics... never a dull moment around! (one example was when he played a bird noise on his iphone and hid it and then looked around the restaurant pretending to look for a bird... what a goof!)

-other peoples' smile lists... and knowing that I was part of what made them smile!

-Josh Groban's Christmas carols :)

-wondering why my flowers were starting to droop and then realizing that I forgot to put water in the vase! DUH! (yes, I actually laughed out loud at myself!)

-warm, cozy sweaters... and getting them for free!!

-new warm fleece pyjamas from Yumi :)

-inheriting a kotatsu from Bobby... I had no idea what I was missing out on!! It is the best invention for winter ever!!

-understanding more and more Japanese!

-grown men drinking out of dainty little tea cups!

-getting dressed up for the Christmas luncheon

-breakfast dates

-attempting to make a little boy smile only to make him cry and cling very tightly to his Mom for the next hour!

-a sweet little baby girl dancing along to Christmas carols :)

-getting an Il Divo Christmas CD from one of my students!

-realizing that I no longer have to lesson plan because I'm done teaching!! (except for my kids' class on Saturdays)

-getting a calendar from my gas company

-getting a letter and Christmas card from my Grammie in the mail :)

-getting a Christmas card from one of my students that was not written in (he wrote his message on a separate paper!)
...hmm I "got" a lot of things this week!

-hearing one of Amy Grant's Christmas songs playing in the grocery store :)

-finally finishing my triple batch of candy cane cookies for my students!! (Remind me never to do that again!!)

-"Friday Night" fun and games :)

-going to Kobe with 2 of my students on a bus tour

-the way that each passenger says "good morning" and "thank you" to everyone else on the bus as they get on and off (at the beginning and end of the trip)

-a lady saying "cake! cake! cake!" while chasing after the hotel staff who was bringing out a tray of cake to add to the buffet

-the way my mouth just automatically gapes open when I sleep!

There ya have it! I'm pretty sure there was lots more from my trip that made me smile, but I didn't write them down :( I have to say that my creativity is running low at the moment since I'm running on very little sleep! It's been a very busy week... with another one coming up too, but I'm still thankful for the many things I've got to smile about.

Just 6 weeks from today, I'll be going to church at Elim again! (if I can get out of bed that morning since I get home the night before!) It's exciting, but also pretty sad all at once. I'm of course looking forward to seeing friends and family again, but there's a lot of unknown's ahead and that's not so enjoyable for me! But, I'm thankful that I have someone to trust to lead my paths. I know He'll make things known to me as necessary so I've got nothing to fear!

I should get going since I've got quite a few little projects to work on tonight! Have a great week!

It's my lucky day!

2009-12-07T01:01:00.004-06:00

Today I went shopping at a store called Uniqlo with Yumi and I have to say I was pretty excited because it's so much like my favorite store... Old Navy! I found a few sweaters and cozy shirts (I didn't realize how few 'winter clothes' I had until it started getting cold again!) When we got to the check-out, I was given a 'lottery ticket' and guess what... I won!!

I was a little confused about the whole thing... Yumi was SO excited and all the clerks were all telling me congratulations. Yumi said something about winning 'ichi man en' (10,000 yen) but I guess I was a little North American in my thinking because I was expecting to get some kind of coupon for next time... but I actually ended up getting an envelope handed to me with 10,000 yen in it right there on the spot! (10,000 yen is close to $100)

As I was paying, I sort of justified my spending as a Christmas present to myself since I hardly ever go shopping, but in the end, it was Uniqlo's Christmas present to me!! I was pretty excited about getting a free shopping trip... and even some money left over! Now I don't have to feel guilty for spending money! :)

Anyway, here's a picture Yumi felt the need to take of me because she was so excited! I think she was a little jealous because she said she goes there a lot and she has never won or seen anyone else win (to the extent that she thought the contest wasn't "real"!) but she was really excited for me :)

I love shopping :) The end!

a picture says a thousand words...

2009-12-06T06:15:00.003-06:00

Today I got the CD of pictures from my trip to Miyajima with my friends Norkio, Tomoko and Megumi! I'm really excited to post all of them, but there are many, many other things I need to be doing right now so I'll just give you one as a teaser...

(Clicking on it to make it bigger makes it even better!)

I think this is my favorite picture ever!! We had set up the self timer and all of the sudden this dear decided it wanted to be in the picture too! Tomoko was terrified of the deer, Megumi was worried about her camera, I couldn't stop laughing about the timing of this deer walking in front of us, and Noriko just looks as fabulous as she always does!! Nothing like natural pictures! :)

The rest of the pictures are really good and I can't wait to post them... but it'll have to wait!

Have a good week! :)

Always time to smile...

2009-12-04T22:34:00.003-06:00

Well this week I've got a clever little intro... are you ready for it??

It's been a busy week, but there's always time to smile!! :) (hehehe pretty good, aren't I?)
Seriously though, in the midst of another busy week, I am really thankful that I've had plenty to make me smile! Here's my "Smile list" this week...

-getting the surprise privilege of lighting the first advent candle... and getting applause after!

-little babies with fuzzy hair :)

-Grandma Okamoto telling us she's wearing 5 layers... and then proceeding to show us each one... more than once!

-spraying snow on Yumi's windows and putting "snow" on her tree :) I got the title of "snow girl"... I laughed and said it was quite appropriate for me since I'm from Canada!

-Bob singing an opera version of a Christmas carol while at the top of a ladder!

-finding "bule" lights at the dollar store... and laughing about the spelling mistake with Yumi!

-borrowing a string of Christmas lights from a teammate to make my apartment even more "Christmas-y" :)

-a fancy new toothbrush

-an older couple in my English class telling me they want their 36 year old daughter and 33 year old son to "get out" of their house!

-getting peppermint extract from a teammate so that I can make my favorite Christmas drink... "candy cane hot chocolate" (minus the candy canes!)

-making Bobby's candy cane hot chocolate with so much hot chocolate that he had 'caffeine jitters' after! (hmm what can I say? I like my hot chocolate a little strong!)

-a 'spoken version' of "Joy to the World" (I guess it was funnier because of the tone of voice it was said in so maybe ya had to be there!)

-an 'elf-yourself' video of Bobby and I :)

-still getting excited reactions when people find out Bobby and I are dating!

-meeting a chatty Canadian guy on the train

-getting a cute e-card from my Momma :)

-the lady at the bakery timidly saying "thank you" in English as I left the bakery

-my Thursday night class... During the tea time, we were looking at a map and talking about how North American maps have North America on the left/centre and Asian maps have Asia on the left/centre. One of my students then told us that Australian maps had Australia in the middle and the other continents on the bottom. We all believed him and said "Really??" then he said... "Maybe." We got a good laugh out of that one!

-one of my students showing us all the features of his iphone... including a piano and a drum set that you can play with your fingers. Bobby was trying to tell him about our Christmas party in two weeks and this student proceeded to randomly beat the drums while he was listening to Bobby! I was laughing so hard I had tears in my eyes... but it's probably another 'you had to be there' moments, isn't it?

-someone in Nunavit incorporating my "smile list" idea on their blog... my list is just as contagious as real smiles! :)

-getting flowers and little presents "just because" :)

-skype dates with my parents... they always make me smile!

-looking at Christmas lights :)

-planning surprises... that actually work out!

-enjoying a cozy house full of Christmas decorations and getting a cute Christmas story read to me :)

-a 7 year old girl playing the 'guessing game' while I quizzed her on the alphabet! (she knows the alphabet... as long as it's in order!) one time she answered "6" when I asked her "What letter is this?"

-making my little students giggle when I put my little pictures of household items in the "wrong room"... I asked them questions like "where's the fridge?" and they would giggle as they answered "It's in the bathroom!"

-making a flower out of mandarin oranges on top of a cake :)

-not having to play the handbells because all the kids came today!

-biking home in the wind... I'm sure I was quite an entertaining sight!

Even though the day's only half over, that's it for this list! I'm going bowling and out for yakiniku with some good friends tonight so I'm sure I'll have lots of additions for next week's list!

Hope you've had a week full of smiles too! Remember how much I love comments and hearing about what makes you smile! Have a wonderful weekend!