Cakes, Quizzes and Cornpops

Yep, I'm still alive out here. Sorry about the delay in writing but it's been a pretty crazy week. I'll admit, today was super lazy for me and I could've blogged anytime. Don't ask me why I'm doing it now, at 11:30...

After a week of daily quizzes, lots of reading, deep theological stuff and an essay-type book report, today was blessedly quiet and I got a lot of chill time in. I started of the day with a solid meal of Cornpops (Canadian of course, the only way to go) and then Kaitlyn and I made 3 cakes for the cake-walk tomorrow. Oh, I totally forgot, tomorrow, instead of Halloween, the church is putting on a fun fair type thing and so I'm basically gonna be at the church all day helping set up and stuff. I've got to take some pictures of the cakes because we had such a blast. We made them all double-tiered and Kaitlyn broke the first one we made but we tried to stick it back together but it was doomed from the start. We ended up just making the huge crack down the middle and subsequent crumbled explosion out the side just look purposeful and lovingly called the cake "Landslide" as per Kenton's suggestion. The other two turned out really well. We made a carrot cake which Kaitlynn decorated amazingly with this nasty orange frosting and then a chocolate heart-shaped cake which I covered in chocolate shavings. They are pretty beautiful I have to say.

But that's not where all the cake fun ends. After spending like 2 hours making cakes, as you would expect, we were craving cake like CRAZY! Luckily we had rescued a bunch of store-bought ones from certain death in the garbage yesterday so we proceeded to chow-down on not so fabulous chocolate cake. I mean, I don't even know why we ate that much, it really wasn't that good but it was chocolate and we were craving...what else can I say?

What about God?

Have you ever really thought about God? Just sat there and contemplated Him? I mean, the implications of a real, active, powerful God living today are huge! but even more frightening is the idea that there is no God. For if there is no God, then there is no reason to live. Ask yourself: does the fact that God exist, really matter? Why?

If God did not exist, there would be no purpose, no absolutes, no morality and no hope. The very existence of God gives us the life we have. Without Him, there is no point.

The above question may have been answered easily and by rote for many of you but now I ask you to contemplate: What if you could have heaven (no pain, no tears, perfect happiness, complete, eternal bliss) - without God? Would that be enough?

This question really made me think. It really gets to the core of why you believe. I mean, how many of us will say that the fear of hell had nothing to do with their salvation? How many of us would claim that they haven't ever just wished this life were over so that they'd be in heaven - not thinking only of God's presence, but a rest; a relief from the struggles of this unfair world? How many times do we comfort the mourning with "don't worry, they are in a better place" or "he doesn't feel anymore pain" or "next time you see him, he will be able to run and pick you up in a hug". Don't we all just ache for the day when we have brand new, perfect bodies? I must admit that the joys I imagine when I think of heaven don't always list God's presence at the top. But this question has changed that view for I took it really seriously. For awhile, I kind of panicked, to tell you the truth. I felt for a moment so shallow and pathetic but I thought about it more and I now know for sure the answer to that question beyond just the Sunday school-taught response.

Heaven would not be enough without God. As Pastor Don said, paradise is wherever Jesus is - but what if you could have paradise without Jesus? Well, I contemplated this and realized some basic things: my life on earth is pointless without God, and hopeless without my savior - why would heaven be any different? Furthermore, I realized the blessings I have received through my relationship with Christ and how much more would blessings abound seeing Him face-to-face!? I realized that you could conjure up the greatest bliss, the most beautiful place, the perfect world but it would all be fake because as soon as you take God out of the picture there is only emptiness, worthlessness, and purposelessness. A paradise without Him would be one in which we were all robots with no emotions, no opinions, and no ability to enjoy because there would be no reason for such feelings. Without God, we are dead, no matter in what condition or circumstance we find ourselves whether in heaven or hell.

Since we've no place to go...

Let it SNOW BABY! So basically today has been a blast. First thing I did this morning was peek through the blinds and I have to admit, I was shocked to actually see snow. Like, back home, a night of pouring rain would never culminate in SNOW! Everyone was practically giddy with excitement and as the snow continued to fall all morning, you could feel the anticipation rising.

Kaitlyn was so cute. She had never been in falling snow before - just seen in on the ground and she was like a little girl. Most of the snowflakes were like little hailstone-pellet things - you know the type and so she was sad and wanted to see a real snowflake. She held out her hands by the door and suddenly there is this cute little squeal, "Oh my, it looks like a snowflake! Oh, it melted!" It was so adorable and she made me smile all day. I was sitting in my room like, "I love snow!" and she's like, "So far, I like it to". haha

 Class was amazing and I will have to write about it sometime soon but at the moment I have too much to do to go into it. When we got out of class there was probably 3 inches which quickly prompted a snowball fight and Chase fashioned quite a magnificent snowman...with help from some others.

It has been such a fun day and it feels like Christmas. It's hard to believe, with snow on the ground, that Christmas is 2 months away!

So basically, be jealous all you Abbotsfordians! We're having a blast out here (feel free to visit any time!)

Just another day in Jackson Hole

Today it was raining...all day...and I really mean - ALL DAY! However, don't misunderstand me! Those are pauses intended to pique your interest and arouse your curiosity, wonder and excitement - not pauses indicating boredom or to accentuate the fact that this was unacceptable thing. For indeed, I met the grey drippy day with unusual gusto and zeal, for it has been quite sometime since precipitation of any kind has fallen from these stark blue skies. The mighty drainage of the "visible mass of droplets of water or frozen crystals suspended in the atmosphere above the surface of the earth or other planetary body*" invoked an internal "visible mass of droplets of water or frozen crystals suspended in the atmosphere above the surface of the earth or other planetary body" of nostalgia which brought me back to my early days back when I lived on the far western part of our frozen winter neighbour up North. How I used to soak up every droplet of condensed vapour, particularly relishing the drenching downpours which flooded roads and gutters instantly and sent visibility levels down to nil. With these heartwarming memories soothing my heart, the day could only get better. And so it did -

--------We interrupt our regular broadcast schedule to bring you this breaking news update.--------

Today, 25 miles from Jackson, WY (though nobody really knows where that is so giving the location is pretty much obsolete information - its the square state kinda centrally-northerly-ish and the town is like on the western side...) an earthquake measuring 4.8 on the Richter scale struck, causing a landslide in the mountains and was felt for 330 miles around (except not at Community Bible Church in Jackson itself where a certain congregation populated with students from a certain Bible College, including a certain somebody with certain characteristics (humility being foremost) and an amazing personality... happened to be in worship service and apparently missed out on the whole fascinating affair). It occurred at approximately 11:45 this morning  (mountain time) and so far no damage, other than the landslide, and no permanent deaths have been reported. It was actually altogether a rather uninteresting happenstance that requires no further embellishment but since I like to hear my own voice I will take this moment to recite a poem - a favorite, often recited by a dear friend:

Curious fly

Vinegar jug

Slippery edge

Pickled Bug

--------We will now returned to your regularly scheduled program--------

So...what was I talking about...oh the rain...right...was I really just talking that long about the weather??? What am I an old lady with nothing insightful to say!?! This is just plain old embarassing and I can no longer continue. I'm deeply sorry about this, but you will just have to wait until tomorrow. I had all these plans for a deep, theological post but...well, as you can see, I got interrupted...so, you will just have to wait. But tune in next time for: how to pickle-

------BREAKING NEWS!!! IT'S SUPPOSED TO SNOW TOMORROW!!!-------

*Wikipedia def

Poodle skirts and milkshakes

Gather round! Listen up! Get excited! It's the moment you've all been waiting for: my recount of our 40s/50s night!!!!

okay, so maybe you weren't that excited but you should be because it was AWESOME. They gave us two hours to get ready (for the girls of course. The guys are like...what are we supposed to do? We answered: shower, sleep, whine...as usual). It was so fun, all of us doing each others hair, everyone being all like, "you're so cuuuuute!!!" The funny part was, the girls all got to the lodge before the guys! It was all decked-out with polka dots and streamers and looked so fab. Of course there was awesome music playing.

Everyone looked so awesome and the food was so good. We had made stuffed mushrooms for work day (oh and Lesley and I made 4 DOZEN banana muffins and 7 loaves!) and then they made us burgers, pizza and milkshakes of course.

We played some games - like riddles really but had a lot of laughs and then....WE DANCED!!! It was so fun. Not many people actually knew how to swing or jive or anything but that's really the beauty of it, everyone just made it up. I taught a bunch of people the octopus and some other steps and we all basically just made up stuff and got really hot and sweaty but had such a blast. We are probably gonna plan more nights like that; for swing dancing because everyone really liked it.

The world outside of Jeremiah????

What a week it has been - what a day!!! I have spent the last two days reading like every second that I was not in class. Today I read Jeremiah for probably over 4 hours! At dinner, I was like all out of it, recovering from 40 chapters of misery and judgement and turmoil etc. That poor guy though! Can you imagine knowing all about the doom of your country - having to tell it and having NO HOPE that it could be avoided!?! What a terrible life and yet he continued to trust God. I find it so crazy that the Israelites like, knowingly and willfully refused to acknowledge God at all. They ignored and persecuted his prophets and didn't listen at all...but then, I guess I'd rather pretend they were liars than accept their message.

I have learned so much this week and had a blast. We did a "Walk Thru the Prophets" class, touching on all the prophets in the OT. It was super fun, with all different types of learning styles used and a great teacher. I've never really looked into the prophets much, other than like, Isaiah and Daniel but now I know where they all fit and I've read parts if not all of most of them. Things are becoming so much clearer in the big picture. Each class, I am able to add more pieces to the puzzle of history. The Bible has so much more in it than I have every experienced or imagined. It's not hard to believe that I will never figure it all out. There will always be something more to learn - it's inexhaustible!

I was also supremely blessed tonight with a video of my dear nephew. It was a beautiful ending to this day filled with rather depressing topics (when one read's Jeremiah, it is hard to keep a light spirit). Though I am having so much fun here and learning sooo much, I can't wait to come home and see all my family and friends and well tonight, I just really wanna hug my little nephew!!

Welcome to Kansas!!!

Yesterday morning I woke up as usual (hearing all the other people get up, move around, but thankfully no longer listening to the squeaky bathroom door as Jared FINALLY oiled the hinges!! You know, it is quite nice to not actually need an alarm clock but it would be equally nice to actually get to SLEEP to the time I would like to sleep...) got ready for class, walked out the door, looked to my left to stare at the beautiful Tetons (as I do every morning) and BEHOLD! they were GONE! There was this crazy intense fog and it seriously looked like there was no mountains there at all. It was sooo bizarre. By late morning they were back and that was an extreme relief to all of us who thought we may have been mysteriously transported to the other side of the continent.

Okay, this week has been unbelievably crazy! We have two classes going but unlike we first thought, it isn't Eric Hovind's easy class along with Dr. Janssen's - it's this other guy with all this science and creation stuff and yes it is totally interesting and stuff but it is soooo much thinking! And his classes are our evening ones so we have like dead brain from all day and we have SO much reading for Dr. Janssen's class and well basically, I should not be on here blogging because I am going to be reading all night and I already feel like I could fall asleep - at my desk.

However, I am thankful for my health right now because my dear friend Elisha is really ill with a headache - she has been getting them everyday for like 2 weeks and we can't figure out what the problem is so if you think about it, please pray for her!

So who's the quarterback??

So last night I went to my very first legit high school football game and it was basically a BLAST. It was the Jackson Broncs vs the something Warriors (we were like which team are we? the black, orange and white or the white, orange, and black? - apparently they are popular colours down here) and the poor Jackson team failed pretty bad but it was still pretty fun just to go do something. I basically made fun of people the whole time but it was amusing. I mean, it's not like the football players could hear me mocking their funny looking cleats! Seriously though, they looked like old man slippers because they were like white and with black towns and then they wore white socks so it just looked ridiculous. Then there was this little scrawny ball boy that I made up all these stories about because he was wearing a jersey too big for him and Lish and I couldn't figure out what his purpose was (before someone told us he was the ball boy). Then there's the cheer squad...um they were like pathetic and I kinda felt sorry for them. They threw all these orange footballs at the crowd, like as a give-away thing but then when they were doing this 'dance' a bunch of people threw them back! It was so sad!! But really, they were terrible. Oh oh oh! and it was the homecoming game so they like did this lame ceremony to the homecoming king and queen and it was sad as well and Cort almost threw his football at the king because he was actually like a retard but I said he couldn't haha.

We had so much fun though and laughed all the time. Lish and I don't really know much about football and spent the first half trying to figure out who the quarterback was bahaha. There was about a dozen of us there (8 students and some other random people we knew from church and stuff) and it was just AWESOME. Oh ya, and there was this guy from our church, named Matt, playing on the team and even though most of us never talked to him, every time he touched the ball we all screamed and yelled. It was great.

Oh and last night Anne had a Norwex party and everyone had a blast at that too. It is just so funny how everyone gets so into cleaning supplies. I think they even had some of the guys there too! Tom had to buy the car cloth. haha

After the game we came home and watched Loving Leah with the college at Pastor Don's house and it was also a blast. As you can tell, yesterday was pretty much...a blast. It was really funny though because every time someone kissed on the screen everyone would like 'freak out' and Pastor Don is like, "you guys can handle this!"

Then AFTER the movie I learned how to make an AWESOME airplane that actually flies really good. So by now it is 12:30 and I try to go to bed but it takes til about 1 before the place actually quieted down. haha

But wait, there's more! Actually it's kinda back in time but I forgot to mention the raking leaves. For work day me and 4 other people raked leaves for like over 2 hours. It was pretty tiring but then, the last load, we just jumped into the middle of the leaves and threw them all over and then we all had leaves in our clothes and hair for the rest of the day. It was SO fun and like childish but just awesome.

anyways, so if you hadn't figured it out...we have a lot of fun around here. Be jealous

Thanksgiving and Moose Hunting

Okay so first of all, I must say that ONLY at JHBC will class be postponed due to a successful moose hunt. We got word at our break (about 10:30) that Scott had shot a huge moose and so they stopped class while everyone had to go "help" with it. I mean, they actually did need a few more people as there was like only 3 guys up there but seriously...most the school left. It was hilarious and I just had to let you all know so you can laugh with us.

Now, I know that Thanksgiving is over but I just got my dinner last night and people were asking me all about it and it's funny because the first thing they ask is like about where it comes from and stuff. That kind of historical info is apparently WAY more important to Americans. Theirs is like to do with Pilgrims and Indians (they never call them Natives or anything, always Indians) and such. So I was like, "uhhh, a celebration of the harvest I think" and well, have you ever thought about it? We don't really seem to care too much about the history so much as the food.

So anyways, I looked it up because I was curious and it DOES celebrate the harvest now and ever since 1959 when Parliament officially designated it the second Monday in October saying it was to be "A Day of General Thanksgiving to Almighty God for the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been blessed". But it had been celebrated before in all different ways and for all different reasons! For instance, the Natives all had harvest celebrations but the main guy who started thanksgiving celebrations was Martin Frobisher who was an explorer and was celebrating his safe return home. Then there were the French settlers who celebrated the Order of Good Cheer. Then after the Seven Years War, people celebrated "thanksgiving" and and then after the American Revolution those loyal to the British brought their traditions over.

The first time Thanksgiving was a civic holiday was April 5, 1872, celebrating the recovery of the Prince of Wales from an illness. After 1879 it was observed annually but announced each year on a different day and for different reasons for which to be thankful for.

So really, we do have quite an interesting history surrounding our thanksgiving...who would've guessed?!?

I can't feel my TOES!!

So...I just played volleyball outside...in 9 degree weather...on a sand volleyball court...in bare feet...in the dark (well almost dark). I'm pretty sure I almost got frost bite. Seriously I don't think my feet have ever been that cold! We were all like shouting in pain. It was like playing on ice or in the snow. It was all wet from rain earlier today and then like just plain old FREEZING! But hey, it was kinda fun...a little...and my feet feel all warm and fuzzy...I can like feel my pulse in them ...

Soooo Happy Thanksgiving to all you Canadians out there. I was supposed to join you all for thanksgiving dinner but someone forgot to put the turkey out so...it didn't happen. I was kinda depressed and almost went on a hunger strike but then I figured that was very thanksgiving-like...not very thankful so I ate the food. It was actually really good as usual (pork tenderloin and scalloped potatoes) so I guess it's good I ate it.

Oh and guess what!?!?! Last night we watched Pride and Prejudice!! (the new one so not that great but still really fun). Heather told me I wasn't allowed to mock it...but I couldn't helped it. plus everyone else in the room wasn't helping either haha. It's funny how we all get so psyched about movies now since we never see them. We all were like crammed in this little room with tons of pillows, popcorn, drinks, and chocolate. I was munchin' on Oreos and Peanut Butter and Jalapeno Cheddar Chips (from my dearest Bonnie!) and it was basically awesome.

Sorry, no theology today but I did put up some pics from the Mount St Helens trip so check em out.

TEN/TEN/TEN!!!

Did you realize this is only gonna happen TWO MORE times and then not for like another CENTURY!!! ya, I know, crazy right!!?! (what can I say, I'm easily amused)


So, I'm back, we made it safe and sound. It was pretty much completely and totally AWESOME. I got to see soooo much stuff and learn all this geology from a creationist, Biblical perspective. We saw tons of evidence for the Genesis flood and Lake Missoula Flood (a HUGE flood during the Ice Age) and then of course Mt Saint Helens which was amazing. We went with a legit guide so I learned way more than the last time we went and we also like, took a hike down to the valley floor and saw the huge canyons carved by the 1982 eruption. There is so much more to that mountain...more like a crater now...than first meets the eye. There is a little museum there called the 7 Wonders museum where they present 7 things that Mt. Saint Helens taught scientist and are evidence for a young earth, the Genesis flood - basically, the Bible! It was soooo cool to learn it all and SEE it first hand.

The whole trip really kinda made me sad though because there are so few who actually hold to the truths that we were learning. I mean, most the world follows evolution blindly but there are Christians - CREATIONISTS - who don't believe in a young earth or a global flood. So many Christian universities are teaching a LIE and it makes me so upset. I mean, LOOK AROUND YOU! Creation is an open book for those with eyes to see. There are things on this planet that make NO sense unless you get the answers from THE BIBLE!

And then there are those who look at the fossil record and say that "it's obvious there are millions of years of fossils here so the 6 days of creation can't be literal"...ummmmm since when does the CURSED creation trump God's WORD!?!?! hello people! If the Bible says it is so...then IT IS! Just because the earth today doesn't seem to match it doesn't mean you change the Bible to match the earth!!! If I'm not mistaken...you'd be making a LOT of changes because creation is disintegrating around us but God's Word will endure forever so...what should be used as the truth here???

So ya, I'm kinda down about all this because there is so much truth to be seen if only you will look with the right pair of glasses - KNOWING the truth and finding evidence...not using 'evidence' to tweak the truth.

The wheels on the bus go round and round

Hey everyone!!! soooo I got internet again. We have been so fortunate as to be stopping at many places with free wireless and so I have decided to join the rest of the populous and get online.

We are currently at Mount St Helens...well, like 15 minutes away but, CLOSE ENOUGH!!! I was on the bus again yesterday and it was full of chocolate, snuggles with Lish and singing. We stopped at Dry Falls and the Feathers, which were SO cool. We climbed up on top of them and it was pretty fab. Some people gave us all heart attacks with their unintelligent feats of climbing. Don't worry, I stayed relatively safe.


We also went to Walmart last night because we were stranded! We couldn't get into the church we were staying in until 8:30 so we drove around, ate pizza and then went to Walmart. I bought a trail mix that is like AWESOME. It's got pineapples, papaya, macadamia nuts, almonds, cranberries, and more!! and I also got a SUPER CUTE HAT!

So tonight we are at another church and we're gonna be here for two nights and hopefully I will sleep well because we are all separated into smaller classrooms and there is only two other girls with me so it's all good. Tomorrow we go up to Mt. St. Helens!!

Well, I'm off to the shower! (we only have one...sooo we all have to share and my turn is up!!)

Ice, ice, baby

Soooo I got internet!! We are currently in...actually...I don't even know where we are exactly...but it was awesome getting here.

We stayed in the professor's house yesterday and I didn't really sleep at all last night...those who know my need for silence at night can guess what happened. Tonight...will probably be the same...oh man.

This morning we had three hours of class and then started out. I was in the backseat of the Buick with Josh and Danilo in the and Cally and Holly driving. We had a BLAST! we like rocked out the whole 6 hour drive. We would drive the Buick up past the other cars (2 suburbans and bus) and be like acting crazy and then once we went up and were like "sleeping" and then once we went past and we were having a pillow fight...things like that. It was SO AWESOME!! By the end we were dancing the Macarena, dancing to Ice Ice Baby, YMCA, We like to Move it, Can't Touch This, etc. It was so funny and we died laughing. I never thought I'd have so much fun with two random guys and Cally and Holly (Cally is an RA and Holly is the administrator).

So tomorrow I'm in the bus...maybe I will sleep - apparently it's another long drive. yay.

I'm sorry if this post made no sense...I'm kinda worn out... all that dancing ya know...

Well, tomorrow we're in Washington - going to the Grand Coulee Dam so that should be fun. Love you all and good night

Going, going, gone!!!

okay, so TODAY IS THE DAY!!!

I can't write much as we head out for our road trip in like 2 hours!!! I will be bringing my computer but I don't know if we will ever have internet so this may be my last post for awhile. I will be back on the ninth I believe so look for a post around then.

Some updates: I totally did it! I was vegetarian for a day! (I almost wrote a "find your inner woman" about it but decided it wasn't that great an ability to be vegetarian...well I mean it takes A LOT OF EFFORT but, it's really not that admirable...jkjk)

Also I finished my 8 page paper and if you'd like to read the "Four Periods of OT History", let me know and I'll email it to ya. Also, the test was today and I think I rocked it!

Just a side note, doesn't the Old Testament sound so gangsta when you call it the OT??? I love it. It's like the Word! haha, I know, I'm a dork but it is just amusing.

Anywho, I'm off now and I'll miss you all!!!! Don't get too bored without me! haha