Back to Work Again

It seems no matter how good my intentions, I continue to fail at updating this regularly. My original plans to go to NS were postponed, and then all-together cancelled. It was for the best as Luke was able to get a round-trip ticket cheaper than it would have cost to drive. This past week and a half was spent hanging out and visiting friends all around Ontario, and most importantly making the trip to Toronto so Luke could pick up his missionary visa at the Ecuadorian Consulate. The week was very enjoyable, and along with encouraging conversation we had a lot of fun with friends we haven't seen in quite some time. Unfortunately this week of play has come to an end and I'm left, a. wishing I didn't have to work tomorrow, b. saddened by the fact that my friends all live too far away, and c. wondering what I'm going to make of my life in Owen Sound. I've got a lot to think and pray about, especially regarding God's plan for me. I'll update more soon...I promise. :)

Lost in a familiar place

I'm starting to feel alone in life. I have wonderful family and friends, but everyone is so far away. It would be an excellent time for me to put more time and energy into focusing on my relationship with the Lord, but I tend to have an incredible knack for procrastinating. Due to my lack of Bible reading and prayer time, I've recently been feeing more confused, discontented, and frustrated with myself and life in general. I think it's time to change that. Quite often it's easier said than done, but it's time to make an effort to live right and serve the Lord in every aspect of my life; no more pushing Him aside!

Work has been wearing on me quite a lot lately for many reasons, and I'm happy to say I get to take some holiday time next week!! I'm thrilled! I haven't had much of a vacation since the beginning of last summer, so I'm over-due I think. My wonderful plan for that week will be to make a bit of a road-trip out East to steal Luke away from his family and bring him back to Ontario to hang out with all of us cool Ontarians. Unfortunately my poor little car has a few issues, but she should survive the trip. My dear father spend most of last weekend doing some repairs on her, and there are still more to be done!

I was at Rachel Henderson's wedding this past weekend in Peterborough. It was a very ceremony with a small lunch reception afterwards. She looked beautiful and I'm glad they're both so happy! :) Here's a picture of the wedding party:

Sarah Hele and I got to have a lot of fun that weekend. She's such a sweetheart! We rented a hotel room for a couple of nights and really enjoyed hanging out there. They had a pool and a hot tub that we made good use of, and the room we were in was pretty nice! I'd do it again in a heartbeat if it wasn't so expensive! We hung out with Sarah's friend Steve, Andrew, and Dave for a little while on Sunday, and I also got to see Laura jay which was an awesome surprise! She's so much fun and I really miss hanging out with her!

Well that's another quick look into my life right now. Perhaps one day I'll get better at making more frequent blog posts! :)

What's next?

I'm still in Owen Sound, now living in my own apartment, which is terribly disorganized right now...even though I've been here since January! It's been nice having my own place, though I suppose at times it's a little lonely. It wouldn't be so bad if I actually knew people here. I am attempting to find a church to be a part of. So far it hasn't resulted in anything promising. A lady accross the street invited me to her church this Sunday, and the dear old lady who lives below me has invited me to her church at some point too, so I'm hoping something will come of these visits.

Work has been keeping me busy. My manager quit in the middle of February. It's been tough because we hired a new manager and a part-time employee, but I'm the only employee in our store who knows the ropes. Makes things a little stressful at times, but things are now going in a better direction, so once our little team is all trained up we'll be doing really well. The new manager is awesome. I really enjoy working with him, and his enthusiasm is very encouraging!

I'm not really sure what's next though. I enjoy my job for the most part, and the company is great to work for, but I don't want to do this forever...it just feels like a step along the way to something else...I just have no idea what that something else is. I'd like to go on a missions trip sometime, but I don't know where to, when, or for how long. With all the changes at work I would like to stick around for a while to get our store back on its feet, but I don't want to feel like I HAVE to stay...or to just settle in thinking that I'll leave someday, but not actually do it. I don't want to miss out on whatever it is I should be doing.

I guess the key to life and being content is following God's will and living for Him. I don't know what He wants me to do. Though, if I spent more time with Him, some things in life might be a little clearer.

I want to ranch...I think that would be fun! At least to try for a while. :P And by ranch I mean that I'd like to live on a ranch with horses and what not....I don't really want to do any cow herding....though maybe it would be fun too...I think I can probably convince Crystal to come with me out west and do some ranching! We can become real cowgirls! Woot! :P

Nic and I are supposed to be going to Jamaica on a cruise with her family next January...still a ways away, though I'm sure it'll be here in no time. I'm quite excited about that! I don't really have any set plans for the summer yet. I'm just glad that spring is finally here and the snow and cold will be gone soon!! And for now that is all I have to say...for the few that read this. :) I should now try and organize this pig sty I live in! God bless...

Secret Family Enterprise...??

hmmm...I guess you'll never know. ;) Chapman's Ice Cream...created by David Chapman (also my dad's name...coincidence? hmmm...) Great ice cream I might add...one of the best out there (no bias there at all). I got to go on a tour through their plant in Markdale on Tuesday. I saw how they make all kinds of cool things! The checkerboard ice cream, sorbet, icecream cups....etc etc. It was pretty sweet! Quite the system of machines. The reason I was there was because they are one of my customers. Now I know you're probably wondering what the heck an ice cream company needs from an industrial and construction supply company. Well, all that ice cream is made in machines, and those machines need repairs and constant maintenance, so we supply them with a bunch of fasteners. Don't worry...all the products that they make are run through metal detectors, so you can rest assured that none of my fasteners will be in your next tub of Chapman's mint chocolate chip ice cream. (oh, and did you know that Chapman's also makes the no-name ice cream sandwiches?? They apparently make a lot of PC products too...I hope I'm allowed to share that info...) Well, that was my exciting story of the week. :)

In other news, I'm getting an apartment on Jan 1st, which I'm quite thrilled about! It'll be nice to have my own space. Tomorrow I'm heading down to Kitchener for a work Christmas party, which should be quite fun. Crystal is coming with me and we get to dress all pretty! :D yay!

I don't think I have anything more to say right now. :)

The Journey Continues

I'm being pulled along in life's journey, still unsure of where it's taking me. Not that I'll ever really know where I'm being led to, or what will be next in this great adventure. I guess that's what makes life interesting. You follow along, thinking you have a pretty good idea of your life and how things are, and then BOOM, something unexpected comes along and you're flying in a totally new direction trying to figure out how on earth to handle the situation. God is great. Well, more than great, He's Awesome, Magnificent, Wonderful....! I'm so glad that He has the reigns in my life. It's such a huge comfort to know that whatever situations come up, He is in control. It doesn't mean that decisions are easy, but He opens and closes the doors, all I have to do is trust and follow.

Though I say all of that, I'm still struggling to trust and follow. I'm struggling to have complete faith in God, struggling to spend time with Him, struggling to seek out His will for me, struggling to live completely for Him and set aside my own human desires, struggling to live like Jesus. Life is a struggle. I love life...I love the challenges, though sometimes it gets discouraging. I hate that I fall so easily and bend to pressures and temptation, even over little things that don't seem to make much difference in life. I guess that's the challenge of it all.

Things have been good. I went to training in Minnesota for two weeks and I really enjoyed it. Most people were anxious to go back home, but I was actually enjoying it (I guess that's part of having a pretty boring life :P). I met a few great people, some of which I'm sure I'll continue to keep in touch with. I'm excited to go back in a few months for a longer, more extensive training course. I'm not sure when that'll happen, but hopefully within the next 6 months.

I'm looking at an apartment tomorrow, which I'm thrilled about! I hope it's a decent place. It'll be available at the end of December. Yay :D I'm anxious to get my own space!

Not a whole lot more happening right now. It's Halloween today...there have only been two kids who have come for candy so far and it sounds like it's raining out now, so there probably won't be any more. :P

B-O-R-E-D

Well, I'm bored...so I figured I'd sit down write for a bit. Not that I have anything much to say. Work has been a drag for the past two days, and I'm sure tomorrow won't be any better. Joey took off to Kitchener for three days of training and left me by myself in the branch. I've been working on quote after quote for customers and I'm tired of it. :P At least it's kept me busy and I'm not sitting there doing nothing all day.

I didn't do too much today. I ran out to the bank and to grab a couple of things in town. I love driving my little bumblebee, cranking my music, and singing for all I'm worth. :P I'm sure if anyone could hear me they'd think I was nuts. :) Maybe I am....

My poor little car has a few problems...I ran up a curb with it a couple of weeks ago and it has this odd clunk in the front tire. You only hear it every so often, but I don't like it. And my reverse lights still don't work! My dad played with them for a while and got them working, but they stopped within a couple of days. I'm not really looking forward to fixing that problem. She seems to be running good though, which I'm quite thankful for! I've been travelling around so much I think half of my paycheques go into the fuel tank. I need to get myself a place here, so I can start staying around on weekends.

I need to find a church here too, or a church group. I've been meaning to look into it, but by the time I get home and eat I don't feel like calling around, especially after spending half the day on the phone at work. I can't imagine any of the churches even have anyone working in the evenings...I'm not really sure how I'm going to get information. I guess I'd better look into it...no more procrastinating!!

Oh! Dave Lisson came to visit me this past weekend. We had a bunch of fun! My dad ended up going out and coming home with Nintendo Wii! SWEET DEAL! It was a lot of fun! I once again made it quite clear that I'm not a very good video games player, but I enjoyed myself nonetheless. Dave also brought me a birthday present (my birthday is next Tues. the 9th). He got me a Lite-Brite! In an earlier post that I wrote, titled "Five interesting or unknown facts about me...", my number one was this:

1) I used to refer to my ribs as ribbins....not quite sure why. My mom had told me the story of Adam and Eve and how God used one of Adam's ribs to make Eve, so a few days later I went running up to my mom saying 'I got a lite-brite ahind my ribbins!' Took her a bit to figure out I'd swallowed a lite-bright peg, and it was behind my ribs.

So that's the story behind the Lite-Brite, which I'm having a grand time with! :P Thanks Dave! I haven't swallowed any yet. :)

This weekend is Thanksgiving, so I'll be heading home again. It should be a good weekend, and the weather is supposed to be nice, which is a bonus.

Well I've blabbed on for long enough...almost time to get ready for bed!

Poster time

At work all of the branches in North America are having a 'Best Looking Store' contest. I was pretty excited to enter into this contest, even before our District and Regional managers made it manditory, but the deadline is this weekend, and it's taking way too much time! We have a brand new store here in Owen Sound, which means things are pretty organized, and it's a very nice looking store as well. You'd think that would make entering the contest easy.... Well, I've been working my butt off trying to make sure banners are hung up, displays are neat and tidy, and that we have a special sales display set up. I spent an extra three hours at work last night. Tonight, my evening will consist of making posters, Sale! signs, and a 'One Year Anniversary Giveaway' sales flyer. I have no idea why I'm putting so much effort into it. Joey says to just take the pictures and not worry about it! :P I hope we win....or at least come in the top numbers. There are over 2,000 branches in North America, which makes for tough competition.

Brief update

Summer was a busy one! I'm not sure where the time went, but it is gone. Crystal and I managed to go on a two week road trip to visit the East coast. It was a grand time! A LOT of driving though...we put over 8,000kms on her car. We left from Kitchener and drove the first day to St. Andrew's, NB. After touring NB for a few days, we headed on to PEI. We didn't spend a whole lot of time there before venturing on to NS. There was a lot to see there, and we stuck around for a few days and were able to visit Lucas for a little while, which was wonderful. From there we did the Cabot trail then made our way to the ferry to take us to NL! That province was an adventure in itself! We didn't go to Labrador due to a lack of time. We spent most of our time driving but the scenery was just amazing...and we got to see icebergs!!! Just two, off in the distance, but we weren't supposed to see any at that time of year. Getting the ferry back was kinda scary because there had been a bomb threat the previous weekend, which backed everything up and we almost didn't get on! Thankfully we did though, and the drive back was pretty much uneventful. We were exhausted, but it was a good trip.

I'm not sure what else happaned in the summer....I've been in Owen Sound, still living with friends of the family and I'm currently looking for an apartment. As of yet, I have still not spent a weekend in Owen Sound. I mostly go back home to Barrie.

My sister was just married this past weekend. The wedding went well and it was good to see a lot of family again that I don't get to see very often.

Work is still going well. They're sending me away for training in October for two weeks! I'm somewhat excited about that. Not so excited about the partying that will be going on around me though.

That's pretty much all I've got to say for right now. My birthday is in three weeks. I'll be 23....kinda weird really. I used to think I'd be married by the time I was this age. Oh well, I think I'm glad I'm not married yet, and that there's no prospects or any chance of me getting married soon...relationships are overrated. :P

Busy Summer

It's hard to believe that spring has come and gone, and summer is already here and passing quickly! I'm still alive and well in Owen Sound. I don't feel like I live here yet, but I guess I do. I work during the week, don't do much in the evenings, then leave for the weekends. The majority of my weekends have been spent back home in Barrie, though I've managed to make a few trips elsewhere, such as St. Clements, Cambridge, & Peterborough. I was living with an older lady downtown Owen Sound, but I moved about two weeks ago in with some family friends who live in the area and just built a new house...with a pool! :D I like this town. It's quite small and has a country feel to it, and the people are really great.
I would really like to get my own place sometime soon, but I'll have to be a bit more patient. Crystal and I are going on a road trip to the east coast in 12 days, for two weeks! It will be a blast and I'm really excited about it! It'll be a lot of money too, but once I'm back it'll be time to save up for my own place.
I've been wondering what God's plan is for me. How long does He want me here for? Sometimes I really enjoy it here, and other times it's tough because I don't really know anyone, and don't have much of a social life. It's like I'm only here to work. I'm hoping to feel more settled by the fall, or at least have an idea of what God wants for me and to feel confident that I'm doing His will.
I must go for now, but I will be sure to write more soon. God bless!

Settling in

This is now my third day in Owen Sound, and I'm actually quite enjoying it! I love the new store I'm at. Business is a lot slower here than in Barrie, but it's a better way to learn, because I can spend more time focusing on our products and how to do certain things. So far I've had to call the Barrie branch every day to ask questions. :P My manager, Joey, is pretty great. He's still learning too, so we've got a lot of work ahead of us.
Owen Sound is a cute little city...only 21,000 people, so it shouldn't take me too long to explore it. :P The house I'm staying at is pretty much right downtown so I can do a fair bit of walking around and exploring. Armintha Belbeck is the name of the lady I'm staying with, and she is very sweet. She lives on her own, so it's only the two of us in the house. I found out that she plays piano quite proficiently, I've yet to hear her play, though. Hopefully soon!
I'm heading home to Barrie this evening...it's going to be a semi-busy weekend. Mel has planned a dress shopping excursion on Saturday for wedding dresses, so that should be fun. On Saturday night I'm going to the T&T (Twenties and Thirties) group from Nathan and Chantals church.
I should get back to work now.
God is good! He is in control and knows what is best and does a much better job controlling my life than I do...Praise Him for that!!

When life throws a curve ball...

...swing for all you're worth and hope for a homerun! Well, I don't know if that's always the case, but it seemed like a good idea in this instance. My manager called me on Thursday morning before I started work and said he just wanted to give me a heads up because our district manager was going to offer me a full time position in Owen Sound. I was surprised...I still have so much to learn, but apparently he thought I could do it. After talking to him about the position, he told me to call him back the next day. To say the least, Thursday evening was busy trying to figure out it the move would be worth it. I don't know anyone in Owen Sound, I don't know any churches out there...I'd be completely uprooting from Barrie and moving myself out the the middle of nowhere. :P After looking at the pros and cons and spending time in prayer I figured it was a good idea, and I told my DM that I'd take the job. So now I'm moving to Owen Sound, about two hours west of Barrie. So I have lots to figure out now before I go, and I don't even know when I'm starting out there; it could be as early as the 16th, or maybe not until the beginning of May. I'm really excited about it though! It wasn't anything I was expecting to happen this soon, but I'm glad it is. :) God is good! I'm sure there are some tough times ahead, especially with knowing no one out that way, but I know that God will be there and in reality, He is all I need!

5 interesting or unknown facts about me...

So apparently I've been tagged by the dearest Luke Bruce and I am now supposed to give five interesting or little known facts about myself. Let's see what I can come up with...

1) I used to refer to my ribs as ribbins....not quite sure why. My mom had told me the story of Adam and Eve and how God used one of Adam's ribs to make Eve, so a few days later I went running up to my mom saying 'I got a lite-brite ahind my ribbins!' Took her a bit to figure out I'd swallowed a lite-bright peg, and it was behind my ribs.

2) I'm terribly afraid of making mistakes...for some reason my brain thinks it's one of the most horrible things I could do...strange, eh?

3) I have a 'rubbish' mark on my leg...I fell off of my brothers dirt bike into a pile of rubbish and sliced my leg open...I refused to have stiches, so I now have a long, wonderful scar on my leg I like to refer to as a beauty mark, which others quickly point out is actually a rubbish mark.

4) When I was about seven I had the hugest crush on Elvis Presley! I would cry when he didn't appear on tv at his scheduled time...how sad. :S He was a pretty good looking guy back in his day though. :P

5) I won every no-hands food eating contest that I had at camp...I don't know whether to be proud of that or not. :P I beat any boy that I competed against. :D

Not the most interesting, but they'll have to do!
So now I believe it is my turn to tag a few people, so I tag, Mattymac, Dave, Cole, Saba, and Gordie, if any of them even read this anymore, which means they must come up with five interesting or little known facts about themselves for their blogs, and then they can tag five people. :)

Life has been good. It makes a difference when you spend time with God. Other than the constant questioning about what God has next, I'm enjoying what I'm doing right now. My job is going well, aside from too few hours. I'm hoping to be bumped up to full time by the summer. Until we get our sales up I'll continue to be part-time.
Mel just got engaged on the weekend, so she's pretty thrilled about that. It'll be a busy next few month trying to get things organized and what not. It should be fun.
I bought a car too, on Monday. It's an '02 Chevy Cavalier Z22, yellow with black racing stripes. :P I'm excited to have my own car finally, though it's standard and I don't know how to drive it yet. My dad is supposed to help me tomorrow when he gets back from Sault Ste. Marie. (which is where he's working right now.) I'm happy that I'll have a bit more independance. I don't always like living at home. I feel somewhat confined I guess. It's been a pain having to live with my sisters again, but I guess it's teaching me to be patient and learn to love them no matter what. I'd like to get my own place eventually, but that won't happen until I get a bit more money coming in. Who knows where God wants me next...only Him, so I need to just wait and trust. Easier said than done sometimes.
I'm hopefully going to be doing some road trips around Ontario to visit people soon. It'll just be weekend trips, but I miss everyone so much. It's hard not having close friends near here.
I'm heading out to Nova Scotia on the 23rd to visit Luke for a few days. I'm really looking forward to that. If anyone has anything they want to send with me they'd better get it here super quick. :P
Well that's my update for now. Oh, here are some pics of my car. :D

Monthly blog? :P

I've really been enjoying my job. The people I work with are great and we have a lot of fun. Just this week we got a new manager, which was a little scary even though we had heard great things about him, but it's all working out well. I found out last week that I'll be able to move up in the company within the next few months if I'm willing because there are a bunch of new branches opening in nearby areas. It would be a pretty exciting endeavor but I have a ton of traning to get done first. There are so many things to learn about the products we sell. The new manager is focusing on getting us all trained pretty quickly so that we can get the sales up in our branch. If I get hired as a full time employee I'll get salary and benefits, and maybe eventually commission if I do outside sales to the companies around us.

It's weird to think about...I've never really had a plan for what I wanted to do. If you'd asked me I wouldn't have told you that I wanted to be a manager for a company that sells fasteners. :p The more I think about it though, the more it appeals to me. I like learning about all of our products and I like that there's a huge opportunity to move up in the company. I'm not sure what God's will is for me in the future, but right now I'm enjoying this. It feels good to be able to apply myself to something. It's not quite enough hours a week, but that gives me a little more time to focus on training.

Christmas was pretty busy here. My grandpa wasn't dooing well at all, so we didn't plan much over the holidays because we thought we might be having a funeral. Amazingly enough he seems to be doing better lately, though not well yet. He doesn't want to live, he has just wanted to die, but God's kept him here. He's feeling very weak and sick. When he was in Sunnybrook a couple of months ago he picked up a superbug as they call it and it attacked him hard. He has congestive heart failure because of it, and because of all the antibiotics he got Thrush, which is like a yeast infection. It was in his mouth and throat so he couldn't eat or swallow very well and it hurt him a lot. That's been clearing up and he's actually making an effort to eat and regain strength now. I'm not sure why he's had the change of heart, but we're all praying that God will heal him of this, if it be His will.

Hmmm...not much else is new and exciting...we started Awana again yesterday and it was our big bang opening. A gentleman from my church does Gospel Magic. So we had him come out and do a show for the kids. They really enjoyed it. And we had two new girls come out which was exciting. It's only a small club right now, but we're praying that more people will hear about it and bring their children out.

I think that's it for now...prayers for my grandpa would be greatly appreciated. Only God knows the outcome of that situation. :) I hope you're all enjoying this winter weather. :P We finally got some snow today...took long enough to get here.

~Love and prayers~

I guess it's been awhile since I last updated, and a lot has happened. I have a new job at a company called Fastenal. We sell fasteners and safety equipment and such. I also work part time at Country Style just down the road. I usually only put in a couple of short shifts a week.

My grandpa hasn't been doing very well over the past month. They found out he has a staph infection which is located in his aorta. It's caused him to be pretty sick for quite some time. The sad thing is that he was sick for five weeks before they figured out what it was. He's been in Sunnybrook for a little while and they're pumping him with antibiotics. Apparently he's having some kidney problems too which could be from these other problems, or it could be because his body is starting to shut down. No one really knows that the outcome of this situation will be. Your prayers would be greatly appreciated.

I was able to spend the last couple of weekends away. Two weekends ago Luke and I headed to the Waterloo area to visit some friends there. We got to see Crystal, Nicole, Deanna, and Gordie. This past weekend I went to Belleville which was a good time, but a sad time too. It was a lot of fun hanging out with Luke, Jay, Karen, Victoria, Sean, and Ruth, but it was sad because it was Luke's last weekend in Ontario.

That's basically my life right now. Nothing exciting. I haven't started my Christmas shopping yet...I'll have to get on that soon. :P

My adventures

So here are a couple of pics from my birthday.

Darryl decided that he was going to be funny and wrapped a pink panther (that we already owned) in one of my mom's picture boxes, and gave it to me. It ended up going back out in the toy box. :P




And this is my cake...with an elmo candle. :D It was a very delicious cake. :)




That was a good day. :) Andrew Chuckleton stopped by to visit me that afternoon on his way home from Gravenhurst. It was great to see him again!

I have this Beauty Club membership at Caryl Baker in the mall. It's this salon type place, and if you're a member you get a free birthday facial and light makeup application. So on the Wednesday after Thanksgiving I booked my appointment. It was pretty fun, but the girl who was doing it took sooo long. She did my eyebrows first, and just chatted a lot. I'm sure that part took her an hour (no...my eyebrows weren't that bad :P) then she kept trying to sell me upgrades to the facials and such so she'd just stand there and tell me all about it. I got the makeup done, which looked decent and was glad to leave!!
Luke ended up coming to Barrie that night and he took me out for a birthday dinner, which was a lot of fun. After Kelsey's we went to Starbucks then he headed back to Toronto in a crazy rainstorm.

I ended up going to the orthadontists last week. They glued a bar on the back of my teeth so I don't have to wear my retainer as much anymore. :D The not so fun part is that they made me a new retainer and it's sooo hard to get out. It was scratching the skin off of my gums when I took it out, so I attacked it with sissors so it fits better. :P It's still not the easiest thing to get out, but at least it doesn't hurt me anymore.

This past weekend was pretty busy. I worked on Friday and then Nic drove up to see me! We hung out at Webers for a bit and had some Nachos, then we left...after finding out some chick in a Cadillac hit Nic's rental car and then took off. Thankfully there weren't any noticable damages. We had a great chat and she spent the night. We went to the mall for a bit on Saturday then she left to head for Cambridge. I worked that night then Luke came late on Saturday so we chatted for a bit. The next day Luke took off for a while, then came back for the afternoon, so we hung out until he had to head back to Toronto. It was fun to have some friends around for a change. My weekends have been pretty boring. :P

I have an interview on Thursday at 11:30 at Naturalizer, a shoe store in the mall. I'm fairly excited about it! It would be nice to have some full time work. Webers has been fun but I really don't enjoy the hours. I've almost got my smartserve certificate too. I have to finish it by October 24th or it expires.

Well, I have this weekend off, so I get to go to Belleville for the weekend. :) I'm pretty excited about that! I haven't had a weekend off in a little while. It is time for me to get some sleep, so good night to you all. Here's some wisdom for you all: Watch out for undercover cops in red parkas...I hear they can find you anywhere....

My Thanksgiving Weekend

This was a really nice weekend. I guess it actually started last Wednesday, which was Dawn's birthday. She's 17 now! Goodness, that makes me feel so old. :S I had to work Thursday and Friday night, then on Saturday we had our Thanksgiving dinner with my mom's side of the family. It was good to see my cousins again. We don't see them very often and they're all growing so quickly! I had to work that day, so I went between shifts to visit, and then after work I went back and had some good turkey dinner! I booked Sunday and Monday off so I didn't have to work. My birthday was on Thanksgiving Monday, but we had my family party on Sunday. It was actually a lot of fun. There turned out to be more people there then I had expected. My brother invited Darryl over and I hadn't seen him in forever. He made things a lot of fun and kept us very entertained. On the Monday I was able to see Saba for a bit, then later was our Thanksgiving dinner with my dad's side of the family. I enjoyed it, though it was very loud. The food was amazing and there was sooo much pie. :P
So along with turning 22, I got to think about my life and wonder where on earth I'll be in a year, and even within the next few months. It can be a scary thought but it really pushes me to focus more on God. I don't like being so uncertain about things, and the only stability I'll have will come through Him. I guess it's one thing to think it, but another thing to act on it. It's amazing how easy it is for me to become unsatisfied with life when I'm not reading my Bible and praying all the time. It's time for me to spend more time focusing on God, and to actually make time for Him every day, rather than making myself busy and forgetting about Him.
I'm really trying to trust Him to provide me with the right job. I'm looking for another job because my job at Webers isn't giving me enough hours. I'm looking for something full time, but I'm not sure where that is right now. :)
My room is coming along nicely now. My parents bought me the wardrobe and the bookshelves I wanted. My dad just put them together for me, so now I just need to fill them and get rid of all the extra junk I have packed away still. I think we're having a garage sale this weekend, so long as it doesn't rain. :P That should be fun.
The time is getting late, so I am heading to bed. Lots of love <3

Hostess extraordinaire...

or NOT. So I found a new job, though it may only be a part time job, I've yet to figure that all out. Starting officially last Wednesday I began hostessing at Webers Downtowner, a diner downtown Barrie known for it's amazing burgers. It's a great place to work so far, though the shifts are only evenings and weekends and they are very short. Eventually I'll do serving, but I need to learn the flow of things first. I really like the people I'm working with. They're a lot of fun and really nice.
I think I'm going to have to look for another job to keep me busy during the day. I don't know where I'll look, but i can't live off of the hours I'm getting right now, so we'll see what happens. I'm just praying about it right now, trying to figure things out.
It seems like there's finally something so show for all the renovations we've been doing. It's been tough living in a cramped space, but by the end of this week I should have my room all painted and my flooring down. I'm very excited about it, and I'll get to set up my new desk and actually start unpacking all of my stuff from school last year. :P
This is just a short little post. And here is a verse to leave with you.
1 Corinthians 15:58 -Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.

No more Green Tree

I am very happy to say that this past Wednesday I quit my job. :D I'm rather excited to be out of that place. I'll miss some of the people, but I don't have to stress out anymore about the work ethics there and such. On Friday I went out job hunting and actually met with some success. The manager at Webers Downtowner (a diner) sat and chatted with me and made an appointment for me to go in for a working interview. I just got back from it a short while ago and it was pretty fun. I followed the hostess around for a while and she showed me the ropes and explained everything to me. It looks like it'll be a fun place to work, so we'll have to see what happens. I'm supposed to hear back from the manager this week sometime. In the meantime my dad is keeping me busy working for him at home, so I'm not completely jobless. :P It's not easy to stand up for yourself sometimes, but I've discovered that it's worth it, no matter how tough it is. It was a load off of my shoulders telling my boss that I wouldn't be coming back in. I'm just trying to leave things in God's hands and trust Him to lead me in the right direction.

So directionless

I guess a lot has happened since my trip to Nova Scotia. That was a fun week. On the way back we stopped in New Brunswick for Rachel Langton's wedding. The wedding and reception were very enjoyable and it was great to see Rachel again. Court was in the wedding party, so we got to hang out a bit. Luke, Andrew, Court, and I all stayed at Rachel's friend's house. She was a lot of fun and it turns out that she just came to Borden for a few months, so we'll hopefully get to hang out a bit.

Right now I'm kinda lost in life, if that makes any sense. It feels like I'm living each day just to get to the next. Some things have become more clear to me in the past few weeks, but other things are so much more confusing. It's hard not knowing which direction my life should be going. I have a strong desire to work with youth, yet I don't know where or howand it just doesn't seem like things are getting any clearer. I've had to deal with some unfortunate stuff at work recently, so I'm about to quit there (it's a seasonal job anyhow) and now I'm looking for a new job. I have no idea where to look. So many jobs are minimum wage and are shift work, so it'll be tough to find anything that pays fairly well. It would be amazing to find a job in which I could work with teens and such, but I have no clue where I could even start applying. Most places require you to have a degree, or some type of schooling. Everything just seems so up in the air. All I can do it trust God to provide. It's a struggle to trust Him so completely.

Even though there is so much uncertainty I have been enjoying my life. I have been much happier over the past few weeks then I've been in a long time. I'm still struggling with my health, though I have a bunch of doctors appointments coming up with specialists and such, and I've been trying to redo the Maker's Diet and clean my system out. I was doing really well until about a week ago. I need to spend this week getting myself back on track.

I was able to spend this past weekend in Belleville with a bunch of friends. It was Matty's birthday on the 31st and Saba's is on the 7th, so we had some birthday fun. It was great to hang out with everyone. At one point there was Matty, Luke, Jay, Nicola, Saba, Court, Sean, Ruth, Nicole and myself. It was a lot of fun. On Sunday we took Saba to Kingston and hung out with Justin for a bit. Aside from being so exhausted from all the late nights, it was an awesome weekend.

I just found out that it is Victoria's birthday tomorrow (6th) so Happy Birthday Victoria!! I love you lots and hope you have a great day! :D

It is time for me to finish my resume and print it off, so good bye for now. I hope everyone had an enjoyable summer, and God bless as you go your way this fall, whether to school, work, or elsewhere. :) love you all!