80th Birthday's and Blue Tounges

Yesterday was my grandad's 80th birthday tea. So the family squeezed into the car (we could have taken the van) and set off for the 1.5 hour drive to Swift Current (i know, yet another strange name). I introduced my family to the Survivour sampler c.d. because they hadn't heard any of those songs before and they really liked it. At the afternoon tea, there must have been over a 100 people at one point and maybe even more because it was a come and go sort of thing. It was great seeing family, but I didn't like having to answer the same questions over a dozen times "Why are you back?" and "why would you want to go back?" and of course "So what does the country think about that prince and his mistress getting married?" As if i'm the expert on a country's total opinion on such matters! I was starting to get a little frustrated, but i kept my sanity in tact. After the tea was over, the family took grandad out to a nice restaurant for dinner. However, when the birthday cake came out it seemed like all etiquette that you would find in a nice restaurant just sort of vanished. The cake had this deep shade of blue icing on top of it and my sister Alissa thought it would be fun to see just how blue her tounge could get from eating this icing. She would periodically stick out her tounge for all to see at the tables and ask if it was blue enough. She even got a mirror out of mum's purse to check the coloring. If it wasn't to satisfaction, in would go more blue icing. At one point, even some of my great uncles had blue lips from the icing. After her tounge was satisfactorily blue, she swished some water around her mouth and then spit it back into her water glass.....of course bright blue! It was so funny and thankfully my family has a sense of humor about these things. Also, thank goodness we were in a private room for dinner or else the other people in the restaurant could have been horrified.
In other news, I have applied for a job as an admin assistant with a long haul trucking company. The hours are good and the pay is decent. I'm not going to keep my fingers crossed, but I had to start some where in the job market! As well, several summer camps are looking for sports and recreation program directors and those jobs begin in either april or may. Not entirely sure if I will apply for any of them though.
I'm trying to find joy in being back at home, but it's been hard. The Lord has been faithful and will continue to bring me through. I know where I am ultimately going to end up as far as establishing myself is concerned and I just have to trust the Lord that he will bring me there in His timing (always nice tho if it's sooner rather than later). Have a great day people!

First from Canada

The flight from London to Toronto was actually really good. On wednesday, someone at cell had prayed for me to have amazing views and great conversations with people. I ended up getting both! It was really cloudy and snowy when the plane left London, but quickly cleared up once we were over the ocean. I got to see some amazingly huge ice bergs along the coast of greenland and the vastness of the ocean in itself is staggering! I also had a conversation with my seat partner who is from Austrailia and was travelling to Canada to visit a friend from uni. The accent was awesome :) My 2.5 hour layover in Toronto was primarily filled with clearing through customs and getting things sorted for the flight to Regina. However, of all things i I know this was God, A person that I went to 3 years of Bible college with was in Toronto airport flying to Regina as well. I hadn't seen him in almost a year and it was good to catch up with him. Congratulations to Phil and Triscilla on their engagement! It was just one of those things where I had been thinking about wanting to see someone I knew and literally 2 minutes later Phil walked by me. Thank you God!
It was really nice to see my family and have a big hug from my mom and dad. However, while waiting for my luggage to come onto the conveyor belt (10 minutes after landing), my dad asked me when I was planning on returning to England! Just got home and he's already wondering when i'm leaving. Before I could offer a response to him, he said "As soon as you possibly can right?" I pretty much just nodded my head in agreement because that would be the truth. He then asked me "Can you see yourself making the move over there permanently?" Once again i could only nod my head in agreement. He told me after that he wasn't surprised and said that he and my mom were proud of me with whatever i may decide to do in the coming months. Things are on hold though until I get myself healthy and sorted out at least a little more financially.
Today, i got to go to Walmart. It was great to get 4 rolls of film developed for like 12 pounds! Tomorrow, I am dropping off like 6 more and then the film is done. I do hope to get them put onto c.d. as well. I shall let you know.
Right now my body feels like it is almost 3 am and it is crying for sleep. However, i am forcing myself to stay up so that i can adjust to the time change more quickly....I just dislike the feeling of dragging myself around for a couple of days. Oh well. I switched my laptop time to London time so that way i can keep track of the time over where my other family is!
Ok, i need to go and watch my sister's newest favourite tv show because she says i will get hooked on it. Talk to everyone later and for those in the 24 hour famine, i hope it is going well.

Last One from England.....For the Time Being!

It is almost 2:30am and I really should be in bed, but I didn't leave 24 until close to 1:30. Tomorrow is going to be a super long day, but hopefully I will manage through it some how. My last day here in Luton was really good. I had breakfast with Karen, and the had lunch at the chaplaincy and went to prayer meeting. I went to dinner with James, Miriam, Henry, Marcus and Simon and it was a lot of fun. A lot of laughter was involved! My last church small group was good and of course I cried! We had chocolate cake, cards and prayers. After, I went up to 24 and we hung out for a while. I was introduced to ice gems and then made to eat Marmite (which doesn't exsist in canada), and then we played one last game for old time's sake. Marcus, Simon, Henry, Miriam, James and I played Big Brother. Miriam won and I came in second place. It was tough to say goodbye to people tonight, but tomorrow will be even rougher when it is everybody at the chaplaincy to say goodbye. Well, i really need to head to my bed even though i will doubt that i can sleep. even a little bit is better than nothing. So, until i reach canadian soil: Remember I love you tons Luton people. You mean so much too me.

God's Reminders

Overall, today was a good day. I took some time to myself this morning and went and took a pretty good picture of the Luton town centre. I cooked lunch for Karen, and we then spent the afternoon together doing various little things that needed to be accomplished and yes, there was laughter involved as well.
God really used C.U. small groups as a great refresher/reminder/not something to be taken for granted type lesson in God's forgiveness and grace. It's a subject we just often pass over in a flash because most of us think we know there is everything to know about it. Tonight, it was good to have it as the sole focus of the topic for the evening, and not as a side benefit either. We studied several passages of scripture, but the main passage was from Isiaha 53. I had never really studied that chapter at any length before. I was however fairly distracted by a certain individual who was sitting near me, so it took a lot for me to stay focused.
A bunch of us went and saw "A Very Long Engagement". It wasn't a bad movie, but the movie being in french and then having to read the subtitles was a bit distracting from the actual movie. It was wierd seeing Jodie Foster who is a very american actress speaking with a bang on french accent. I found it a long movie, but at least it had a somewhat happy ending, even if a little unconventional.
Tomorrow is my last full length day here in Luton. Am I dreading it? You bet I am. Does anyone have any idea how hard it is going to be to say goodbye to these people who have become like family to me? No lie, tomorrow is going to be a tough day for me. I do get to have breakfast with Karen tomorrow, then there is c.u. prayer and the church small group and then i have to go up to 24 and say good bye to everyone else who lives at the house. I just need to focus on the good and fun rather than the goodbyes. Ok, I need to try and get more packing done yet tonight. I'll be able to write one more tomorrow from here and then that is it from me for the time being until I am back in Canada.

Happy Birthday...........

Happy Birthday to my youngest sister Alissa who is 18 today! Yikes, she's getting old :) Lissa, I love you loads and I will see you soon.
The packing has come to a standstill because I don't like having to deal with it. I'm not in denial about leaving obviously, but I just don't like the fact of leaving and packing just makes it seem that much more final (i know, an obvious thing, but still true).
James' birthday party was fun and we played some party games. Of course, the girls simply ruled the battle of the sexes game. Was there ever any doubt that we wouldn't? As always, twister was hilarious to watch and the pictures are just as funny. Congratulations to Marieke who is once again the twister champion! And dancing with Miriam in itself was an experience I don't think I will forget anytime soon either. No more S Club 7 ok?!
My last 2 church services at St.Mary's were great. I made it through the morning service without crying, but completely lost it just before the evening service was to start. I was able to compose myself for Nick calling me up on stage and praying for me. Thank you too all the girls who came up to support me in prayer. Love you loads and it was appreciated!
The day has begun and I need to get myself together. I'm having lunch with Mareike and tea this evening with Chris. Have a great day people!

Getting Rid of Stuff

It amazes me how much 'stuff' I have collected over the last almost 6 months! Things that make a flat feel more "homey" are fantastic, but I can't take them back to Canada with me unfortunately. That is the problem that has confronted me over the last two days. Thankfully though, I have found good homes for most of my things. I've been trying to do the major bulk of my packing today, so that I don't need to worry about it on Tuesday or Wednesday when I would rather be doing other things with people. I've had a good morning and afternoon to myself and I think I have accomplished lots today. Although, I think I remember people saying late last night that today was suppose to be our day off. Well, it really hasn't happened for me because I've been organising things all day.
Tonight is James' birthday party and that should be fun. I just enjoy getting together with the whole lot of us in general. Last night, I spent the evening up at 24 for dinner and movies. It was just good to be there with everybody. Miriam went nuts with a new foam disc gun that she aquirred that day and I learnt how to play the computer game Worms (anyone in Canada heard of it?) I'm really going to miss spending evenings at 24. Everybody connected with that house (because people are coming and going frequently) have become to mean so much to me and I'm going to miss it something fierce. Ok, If i don't stop writing soon I'm going to make myself cry and I don't want to cry more than I know I already am going to in the few days ahead.
Have a great weekend people! Blessings!

Tea and C.U.

I went to Selina's tonight for tea, and Kerry made some really great lasange. It was my last time to see the girls in person before I leave because they have an away weekend and then take off on mission week on Monday. Those girls have been a great blessing to me and I will miss them loads.
My last C.U. meeting was good. We were talking about community. At the end of C.U. , Karen and Miriam called me to the front and prayed for me and then gave me a huge card signed by practically everybody! How they pulled that off was by getting Selina to make me 15 minutes late and then by having my group go upstairs for the Bible study part so that the rest could sign it. It of course made me cry, but it was a good cry. C.U. has truly impacted my life and those lessons will be things i carry with me for a long time to come.
We had to pack down the prayer room tonight which was more than a little depressing. It looks so stark and bare now. Hopefully something can be done with at least a portion of that space. Well, it's getting late and I think my body still needs some rest yet.

Crohn's Attacks

Today, I have had the worst Crohn's flairup that I have had in a long time. I really should not be surprised that it occured today considering the amount of emotional/cognitive stress I have put myself through over the last few weeks. For the greater part of the afternoon and now into this evening, I have stayed in my bed not wanting to move. I started to attepmt to go to church small groups, but a great friend who has more common sense than me stated so plainly that i really should go back to bed and not risk putting my body through any extra stuff yet tonight. So, I am going to say thankyou for making me realise that I needed my bed tonight. I am upset though that I missed my next to last small group meeting though. Now, all I have is one more church small group. Be preparred because the camera is coming with me next week. Tomorrow is my last Christian Union main meeting. I hate thinking about "it's the last one of this and tomorrow is the last time for that", but I can't help it. It's the way my head works. Well, I think it is time for me to go back to my bed and hopefully in the morning this day will be like a dream and I will be all better!

Valentine's Day and Feelings of Disarray

Happy Belated Valentine's Day to all. I tried to post last night, but my computer was behaving badly and it didn't want to cooperate (no, I did not let a boy touch it). Overall, Valentine's was great. It made me appreciate so much the friendships we as women can enjoy together. Plus, we got to eat some really bad food (an amazing chocolate cake...check out the pictures at http://nerakf.blogspot.com ) and chat about boys....a wonderful combination is you ask me. and contrary to popular opinion, i am not obsessed with the piano player from Nightwish (it was an awesome concert and some people think i am half in love with the piano player. Although he is very talented!) We also got to have a private viewing of Wimbeldon last night at the chaplaincy after everyone had left. It was a sappy and predictable romance movie, but it was just right for a single's valentine's get together.
As i said just a few moments ago, the Nightwish concert on Saturday night was amazing. They are so great live and i doubt it will be something i will forget anytime soon. Sunday at Oxford was great as well and it was a lot of fun to just wonder around the city centre and look at the really old buildings. Once again Canada has nothing even close to it, so this was just jaw dropping wonderful to see. I hope the pictures turn out, otherwise i do have the postcards to show people.
Today, I think the reality of the fact that i am really actually going home next week sunk in to my mind. My first response for most of the day was to begin to withdraw emotionally from people. Hard to admit, but it was what i felt for most of the day. Then i realised that I still have over a week left here and no matter when I leave and even if i could break off emotionally now, saying goodbye is still going to suck and I really do care about people too much to do that to myself. I just hope that no one here does the same to me in return because it would make the next week awful. On the flip side of things, I thought small groups went well tonight. We were talking about God's love and John 15:16 really spoke to me. I'm really going to miss C.U. and church small groups. Both things have just instilled so many new points about God into my life.
Not going to Cadbury World tomorrow, so I do get to attend my last C.U. prayer lunch. I'm glad for that at least. Well, it is getting late and i'm feeling a bit rough and tomorrow is a busy day despite the change of my plans. However i may actually try to have a bit of a lay-in which is funny for me to say because it rarely happens! Anyways, I'll be in touch soon.

Prayerathon All Nighter and Various other things

Last night was the prayerathon. I must first say that I personally didn't make it through the night, but for the part of the night that I was at (and then back for a little while before breakfast), God really showed himself to me. We had a decent turn out I think. At least in my opinion, when people who have never come to an event like this before are excited at the end of it, it is then a success.
The prayer party yesterday afternoon was fun. Henry and Miriam were definately creative in thinking of the prayeropoly game! We had pumpkin pie and chocolate cake to celebrate James' 21st birthday as well. We had a massive invasion from YWAM and for a few minutes some of us weren't very sure of what was going on because they came up the stairs singing happy birthday to James. Some of us thought it might have been people he knew from home, but then i recognised a few of the YWAM people.
So, I have had 5 hours or so of sleep which is a lot more than most people i know had last night. Tonight, I am going to see Nightwish in concert and I am really looking forward to that. It should be a good time, plus its an excuse to go to London and we all know how much I like going to the city! Tonight is Jude's commissioning service and several people i know are also making the trek into london for her service tonight. I hope it goes well. Tomorrow is church and Oxford! People, try to get some sleep this weekend!

Update on the Post Below

It's been a frusturating week full of tears and emotions I don't like having to deal with. Most of you know, but for those of you who may not, I am going back to Canada on February 24th. I was a little bitter at the extenuating circumstances for the first day or so and now I am just trying to veiw it as something that is going to streach me in ways that God has not yet used me. I am hoping that it's a time of being back in Canada before I end up back in England in the future. I have made Luton 'home' for the last 5.5 months and despite the fact that some people may not be here if I return, it would still feel like I belong here. Right now, I'm just trusting God and going down the path I know he want me to go down...as much as I'm not a huge fan of going down it right now, I've acknowledged it at least. I am not going to deny the fact that it is going to be horribly difficult to leave. Part of me wishes that I was leaving tomorrow just so I could get the goodbyes over with, but a huge part of me also doesn't want to leave at all. Like i said, this week has been filled with tears so far and i don't think its going to get any easier. However this week and the next week are filled with some neat things.
Prayerathon has been this week and so far I think it's going well. I think God is showing himself and his plan for them to people and showing himself to be very real to others as well. Tomorrow night is all night prayer and I'm really looking forward to that. Not sure if my system the way it has been will allow me to stay up all night, but I'm sure going to give it a go. Saturday night, I'm going to a concert with Lou and Henry. From what i hear, going to a concert with henry is an adventure unto it's own. Then on Sunday after the morning service, Lou and I are going to Oxford for the afternoon so that I get a chance to see it before I leave and i also think we have a trip planned to cadbury's world planned for sometime next week! I tell ya, the chocolate is better over here.
Well, i guess i should get going. I think I need to start some packing (not going to leave it until the night before) and maybe get an early night for once because of prayer breakfast in the morning, but also because tomorrow is going to be a really long day!

Just When You Think All is Ok.

As the Title suggests, just when I thought everything was going to be ok, it isn't ok anymore. I found out where my second semester modules will transfer into back home: as 3 unallocated level 300 modules. I already have 300 level modules filled, so this presents a problem for me. The classes for second semester won't fit where I need them to go. I immediately sent off an appeal letter and they said they would get back to me on monday. I'm trying to not let this all stress me out, but I think I am loosing the battle. My health problems are alerting me to the fact that I am letting it stress me out. Anyways, it is all in God's hands and all I can really do is pray.
This morning, Robbie and Beibei are getting married! I am so excited for it. It will be really neat to see how they incorporate the traditions of English and Chinese culture. Lord, please bless their marriage and let this be such a God honoring day.
Well, I am all dressed up and ready to go to the church to help decorate. I'll write more later.

10 Pin Bowling and a Shooting Star

Last night we had our small group social and we went 10 pin bowling. I don't have to much experience with 10 pin bowling because at least in my part of Canada, 5 pin bowling seems to be the more popular choice for some reason (that comment recieved me a crazy forienger statement). It was a good time though of laughing at myself and others (sorry Karen and Selina....much love to you both!). I did have my first triple digit score ever last night though, so I must have done something right (108 to be exact). After bowling, I tried the dance mat with Karen and Selina and I'm pitiful on those things. I just don't have the coordination or the quick reflexes for it....my attempt was a little pathetic.
Before the social last night, I was able to take an amazing bubble bath at Karen's place because i don't have a bath tub at my flat. It was so nice and Karen even cooked us dinner. It was SO good. And it was high in the veg department! Thanks Again :) I went back to her place for a little while after small group social and we were talking and then we were unceremoniously interupted. However, we were brough Doritos and that's always a good thing.
On my way home last night, I saw a shooting star streak across the sky. It was awesome! Yes, I did make a wish, but of I told it wouldn't come true. So i'm keeping it to myself for now.
Tonight, a few of us are going out for Mexican food. Some of them haven't been for Mexican before, so it should be a lot of fun.