Winter Tires and a loving God

I know I have promised over and over that I will post my thoughts about moving to Saskatoon and how we made it here and all that God did to get us here, and he did many a miracle, but I am just having such a hard time putting it all down in words, so it will have to continue to wait.

I do want to share a little 'God moment' that happened to us last week. Shortly after we moved to Saskatoon we realized that we would need to be a two car family, so we got on Kijiji and began looking for a car, well we ended up purchasing a 28 year old Volvo station wagon, not the best car in the world but the price was right. Well we hadn't had the car for long when a couple in the church saw Nathan getting into the car and asked where we bought it and how long we had had it for and as it turns out it had been their car, and they had sold it to the man we had gotten it from. So that is a fun story, but it gets better.

With the fall of the first big snow we quickly realized that the Volvo would need new winter tires, not an expense we really cared to purchase, but in Saskatoon you NEED winter tires. Before we even had a chance to price out new tires I received a phone message from the same gentleman from our church who owned the car before us, letting me know that he had a pair of gently used snow tires that they had purchased for the Volvo when they owned it sitting in storage and that we could have them free of charge if we wanted. A gift we very graciously accepted.

Our loving God once again looked after us in a miraculous yet simple way.

God cares about the little things too. 

Pretty Crazy

Fall time is coming

I can't believe how fast time flies! Since my last post there has been many things that have happened. I had a successful week speaking at camp (mostly, long story to come), a second successful week of VBS and a week of holidays in Winnipeg/Niverville visiting with family and friends.
Now with fall coming quickly I am trying to finish up planning and recruiting for children's ministry.
Stay tuned for my funny (and not so funny) camp story and a few posts on what I have been learning about myself. Until then, have a great week!
Enjoy the last of the summer weather!

Speaking at Camp

Boy oh Boy!

I am preparing to speak at junior camp week at The Quest at Christopher Lake and I am starting to shake in my boots. I am pretty confident in my speaking skills, especially when it comes to speaking with and teaching children. Not that I am awesome by any stretch, but I can usually keep the attention of a group of children for a little while :)

What freaks me out is how I used to think about the speakers at camp when I was a child. I used to think that they were SO 'totally awesome' and just the coolest people ever. I remember thinking that the speaker at camp could do no wrong and must have a direct line to God, 'cuz they are just so smart'. I couldn't tell you what they talked about, or what they looked like or even their names, but I felt the same sense of awe for all of the 1/2 dozen speakers I saw as a child.

So needless to say I am putting a little pressure on myself. I don't want to disappoint my inner child, or the children at The Quest. It is hard to live up to those memories, so I'll try not too. What I will try to do is follow the lesson plans that I feel the Lord is leading me teach, pray like mad and be myself. (Even if I am not "SO totally Awesome!")

I ask for all your prayers, that I am fully prepared for my lessons, that God moves in my heart as well as the heart of all of the children who will be there and of course for good weather and safety.

Thank you.

Life after Lent

So since the last post, which I just re-read with tears in my eyes, I realized that God has truly brought us through that season of Lent. Joy comes at the end of Lent, and God has given us much joy as well. We have moved into our own house, which feels so much like home. We truly are blessed to have found a house that we love so much.

God has also provided us friends, those small fragile relationships that start as simple conversations have started to root and sprout into meaningful conversations and coffee dates outside of church. Friends from the 'past' have also been great, emailing and visiting, showing love over the distance.

Our son is settling in, making friends as well. He is looking forward to starting school and karate in the fall.

Life is good.

The sadness and longing of Lent. The love and blessing from the Risen Lord. The help and comfort from the Holy Spirit. And now we move into 'ordinary times'

Reflections of Lent

As the end of lent nears and Holy week approaches, I find that I am sitting at my desk pondering this season of sorrow and joy. I have been asked many times over the last month or so about what I gave up for Lent. To which I answer, 'nothing, I've given up a lot recently, I'm adding to my life for this Lent'.
Well today I am wondering if that is true. What did I lose and what have I added? It is easier to say what I've lost (or feel like I lost), I've lost visiting with my family, as we moved a province away. I've lost a church family that I loved and was loved by. I've lost many friendships, as only a few will stand the test of time and email (all from the move). Right now I feel like I have given up my home, not so much the building, although we did that too, but my home the comforting place to be at the end of a day. The warm safe place that is always suppose to be there, doesn't seem to be there right now.

So what have I added to my life to counter act the loss and how does that reflect my Lent experience. I have been more intentional in participating in worship, mainly solitary worship but meaningful. Many times over the last few months I could be found crying in my car as my favorite worship song plays, "The Stand". I have intentionally focused on the sovereignty of God over the last few months, seeing even little things as gifts from him. God has blessed my family so much over the last four months, providing for us in miraculous ways, that I can't help but see him everywhere. I have added new friendships to my life, starting those new fragile relationships that take time and patience to nurture into full friendship. And prayer, I've added prayer. I find that I can't go far into my day or activity without calling out for help to the one who will always be there, and yet I never feel like I can call out enough.

So today my heart is breaking. Filled with longing for this season of Lent to be over. Longing for a home where my heart and body can rest. Longing for the joy that comes after the sorrow. Knowing that it will come.

In the mean time, I will continue on this journey of Lent. Is this a true Lent 'experience'? I don't know. All I know is that I will continue to offer my heart to my God in this time of transition and sorrow with this as my prayer

"I'll stand with arms high and heart abandoned in awe of the one who gave it all. I'll stand my soul, Lord to you surrendered all I am is yours"

VBS DAY!

So I am so excited! I received my VBS material today. I am using Standard Publishing's Inside out and Upside down on Mainstreet.
It looks so good. I'll post more when I get a longer chance to look at it!

Week of Prayer

We have started our week of prayer here at EBC. We have had a pretty good turn out so far, small but passionate groups of people who have a heart to see the will of God being done in their church and their city.
If you are from EBC or just from Saskatoon, please come check out our prayer time this week. They are at 7:15 am, 12:15 noon, and 7:15 pm. They are for 30 minutes.
If you are a mom with little ones not yet in school, I would be more than happy to hold a baby during the lunch hour prayer. Just leave a message on this blog or Facebook me to let me know that you need my baby holding services!

¹² In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence. (Eph 3:12)

Technology dependant part II

Ok, so my computer crashed late last week and that kept me a bit behind and a bit bored at my desk for Thursday (Friday is my day off) and Monday as my new computer was getting ready for its new home.
So since Tuesday I have had my new computer and I feel just as silly sitting at my desk staring at it as I did when I didn't have a computer. I have this big beautiful looking Mac sitting on my desk now and I am just learning the differences between a PC and a Mac. Right now I feel like it is taking me twice as long to figure things out and that I am not nearly as productive as I should be. Oh well, it will only take me a few days and a lot of playing around to figure out some of the silly little differences.

I do like that my Iphone syncs really nicely with the ical. Over all it will be wonderful, it will just take me a little while to stop looking for the close screen x on the right.

Feel free to send any pointers my way :)

Technology dependent

Here I am sitting at my desk without a computer, because mine was not behaving itself, with little to do. What do you do at work without a computer? I pulled out my phone to check my emails, Facebook, and twitter just to keep up with the world, I ran errands, and cleaned my Sunday school rooms.

Now I guess I wait.

My new computer is suppose to be ready this afternoon.

What would you do if you didn't have your computer at work for a day?

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Taylor St E,Saskatoon,Canada

faith is good

I have a lot of faith in my volunteers . I just know that they are going to show up, come prepared and be happy. I wish that I could take credit for this, but I really can't . The intrim children's ministry director did a wonderful job showing them importance of volunteering, the changes that they make in the lives of children and I am guessing that the volunteers feel appreciated and blessed. I have been at EBC for two months already and I haven't had a single no show. Boy, that is just unheard of.

So, now my job is to find out from my volunteers what they think of their volunteer positions, what they like and don't like. I need to talk to Carie, who put many of these volunteers into their positions, to see what she did to encourage them, train them and/or value them. And I am going to have to implement those practices in the other volunteer areas that I over see.

I need to not take for granted that my morning people are faithful. I need to learn from that and try to encourage all areas to have the same faithful feel.

I can't believe it is Saturday night at 7:30 and I am not worried about who is going to show up. My volunteers rock.

Playgroup

Every Thursday morning we have a parent supervised playgroup. I think it is pretty fun. We have about 50 children and 30 parents who all come for 1-2 hours and play. We have climbers, wiggle cars, a rice table, costumes and even a bouncer. Of course we have coffee and tea for the parents and juice for the kids. It really is a good program. I love seeing the different groups of people talking and hanging out. Each week it seems like we have people who have been for the first time.

I am looking to add to this program. I am wondering what type of events or programs would be beneficial for young parents. If you are a parent or are in ministry to young families please share any ideas you might have to better my program.

My prayer for this program is that every lady who comes on a regular basis will be intentional at inviting someone from the community.

Making friends up and down the hall

Ok, so here is the thought of the day. How do you make friends up and down the hall of an office. I have to say that I love my job, I also really like the people that I work with, but I am really lonely. I am surrounded by super nice people, whom I have known for 2 months now and really don't feel a strong friendship with any of them.

True I work mainly with introverts, when I am an extrovert. So my overly excited invites for coffee or my constant attempt at starting conversations tend to scare people off than build friendships.

My office is also all the way in the corner of the church, not near most of the of the other offices, so distance can play into the problem a bit.

We are all rather busy here at the church, which does not allow for tons of social time, so that plays into the situation a bit as well.

And I'm the new one, and they are not, so they already have social groups within the office and the church, when I just don't.

So, does my lack of office friendship affect my work? No, the opposite actually. I am very productive sitting all alone in my quiet lonely area. Does it affect the way I view my job? No, I still very much love my job and the people I work with. So what does it affect? Why do work friendships matter? I'm not sure. It affects my mood. But a mood can be changed, controlled and managed.

I will not let this affect my job or my feelings toward my job.

But if anyone has any tried and true ideas on making friends as an adult, or being an extrovert in an introvert's world. Let me know.

Mid Week program

I'm looking to start a mid week program here in Saskatoon and I am not sure which one to do. I am leaning towards Christian Service Brigade. I love their focus on male leadership and developing boys into godly men. It is hard to be a boy right now in our society and I think that the mentoring and relationships that are built in a program like this would be great!

one of these things isn't like the other

I was at my denominational pastors' meeting today, meeting the guys for the first time. I had to chuckle at the group I was in. I was the youngest in the room and was 20 years younger that 80% of the attendees. I was one of two women. I know that those numbers shouldn't surprise me but they do. I love what I do and I have come to realize that right now I will stand out in a crowd like that, as the young female children's pastor. I'm ok with it.

Life as a pastor and a mom

So today my worlds bumped into each other a little, as my son's daycare was closed (well it wasn't closed, the teacher was away and I was uncomfortable with the alternative arrangement that was made) so my son is at work with me today. He is almost 5 and an only child, so he is pretty used to playing by himself. So far we have been here two and a half hours and he is doing great. This makes me so proud!

I am also thankful for a job that not only allows me to bring my son on the odd occasion, but encourages family time. It is a real blessing.

You know what else is a blessing? My son's Nintendo DS. Boy does that thing come in handy. :)

Technology is just awesome!

Ok, I know I've had my iPhone for a year now but I am just learning what it can do. This new blogpress app could make blogging easy!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:7 Ave N,Saskatoon,Canada

Wow What happened

Ok, so I can't believe that this blog is still just sitting here begging to be taken care of. Maybe I should start again. Maybe I should erase my two sad little posts and start clean. But then I would be missing a part of me, (my lack of focus and dedication part, mind you). So I won't start again, I won't delete my past, I will work from now.

So where am I now? I find myself in Saskatoon SK. I am at a new church, with a new job (long story, I'll fill you all in later). I am now and children's pastor at a baptist church and I have to say that I love it. God has performed miracles to get me here (well they seemed like miracles to me) and I know that it is for his GLORY that I am here.

I will post the journey. But not tonight. :)