Getting Ready to Leave

So all I've been doing for the last week or so is packing and planning and saying goodbye.  It is slowing making the trip seem more real, but that makes it also seem more overwhelming. I'm beginning to realize that there is no way that I could possibly survive this trip without God coming with me.  I think he will be the only thing keeping me from losing my sanity at some points.  I loved being in Slovakia last time but it is very overwhelming to go to a different continent knowing no one that you will spend the next seven months with.  I think I would chicken out if I didn't feel like this is something that is really important.  God has been so very faithful so far in the journey of planning. I'm sure that he will be faithful once I get over there too.

Thank you everyone who is reading this and praying. I appreciate it immensely.

(and I appreciate all your replies too!)

Leaving Abby

Hi Friends!
I just handed out my blog to all my friends in Abby so welcome guys to my blog!
Tomorrow I'm driving my long drive back home to Alberta. I expect I'll listen to Paul Brandt's "Alberta Bound" a couple times. :)


AND because every post needs a picture, this is me wearing fireman equipment:

Wedding Number Three!

This is the last wedding. And it was so much fun.  They rock climb so the sisters of the groom decorated the car with rock climbing stuff. We have ropes and those little rocks they put on walls for wall climbing.

The pastor's sermon/message was BEAUTIFUL. Half way through I told Melissa I wanted him to officiate my marriage.  And the reception venue was beautiful.

We did the decorating (all the friends I came with) They did this... and it looks sooo good!

The cake was beautiful. And the groom's sister made it!  So amazing!

Becky caught the bouquet! She was so excited. And she will be really upset when she sees I put this picture up. But it shows her excitement the best.

And we needed a kissy picture. 

We had so much fun and I love this couple to bits!  I was so happy to be there for their special day.

Wedding Number Two!

I can't believe I didn't post pictures on my blog from this wedding yet!  This actually was a wedding that I had a pretty big part in.  I was helping with decorating and I was a co-MC with a good friend of mine. So we had some responsibility which unfortunately means you have less time to take pictures. I tried my best for all our friends who didn't get to come but obviously all my pictures aren't going to go up on this blog.

They had sparklers while they had their first dance. It was one of the best ideas I've ever seen. Gave all the guests something to do while they were dancing. :)

And I couldn't not put a kissy picture in!

This is my favorite church in the entire world... and I've never even been inside. But the outside is pretty beautiful huh? Its in Bratislava.... AND I'M GOING TO GO SEE IT AGAIN!!

Yes you read right. I'm going back to Slovakia! I learned on Friday and I've just been too excited and trying to do so much planning I didn't even blog about it.  So now you know.  I'm doing a YWAM Discipleship Training Course. (learn more here: http://www.europedts.com/ ) But it starts in September so I have alot to do with very little time.  Four weeks, but I don't even have a flight yet so.... I feel like I'm cutting it awful close.  Now i just need to get my passport renewed, book a flight, make sure I have enough money, buy all the things I will need that I don't have yet, read the book they want us to read before I go, tell my boss I'm leaving earlier than I expected.... I'm sure the list will get longer as I think about it. 

God has been so good as I waited to hear about if I was going to this course. I had such peace that everything would work out. I just need to keep trusting that he will help me get all these other things done in time. 

My First Photography Gig!

I just realized that I never put up pictures that I took for my friends' wedding!  These pictures were put up on each table as table numbers and were taken around the city at places they have fun together. Actually they used the b&w versions but I thought I'd put the colour ones up... i like the colour.  It was a great day for me to hang out with them. Alot of fun was had. and they are the most photogenic people ever so the pictures turned out amazing. The bad news is that now I REALLY want a fancy camera so the pictures would turn out even better!

I love this one with her smirking at the camera, but kissy pictures are pretty great too. I think this was one of my favorite locations.

I love this picture but I obviously was not paying close attention.  Table number two anyone?  I fixed my allignment for the next one thankfully.

These last two pictures took so many tries! And they didn't even get used! They ended up only having 14 tables. But now the world gets to see!

The (not so appropriately named) Sunshine Coast

This weekend I went up to Egmont on the sunshine coast with a few friends from University. All i can say is "what sunshine?"  We hardly had any the whole weekend. However, we had a great weekend.  The boys even caught some fish. They were ugly fish, but they caught them.  We hiked to the fastest? largest? strongest? the most something tidal rapids in Canada? North America? The world?  Obviously I wasn't paying much attention to why they were so exciting.  They were pretty cool though. Some brave kayaker was taking them on.

I had a great time walking on a rocky beach looking at starfish and jellyfish and everything in between.  And my favorite part of the whole weekend is that the ocean has these crazy little animals or plants or whatever that bio luminesce. What does that mean?  They GLOW!  when you stir up the ocean and the little things get disturbed they glow!  So we had a great time stirring the water up and throwing things into the ocean. Including Shay.  Watching someone swim in it was so very cool.

For more pictures check out my facebook album from this summer.

Also: I am supposed to find out this week if I am going to Slovakia or not.  Please be praying with me (and my home church that my mom apparently has praying) that God's will is done and I end up where He needs me to be. I'm feeling pretty relaxed in knowing that he is in complete control.

Check Facebook instead

I don't have time to update both facebook and my blog so facebook won today.  Check my pictures for an idea of what I've been up to.

Week of Stereotypical Summer Stuff

So this week we went to the lake, and to the beach on the ocean, and watched fireworks.  All very stereotypical summer things.  Lakes here are cool because they are in between mountains.  And this beach was pretty busy.  A really nice lady gave us a blow up air mattress because she wasn't going to take it home with her.  We had so much fun with that mattress.  Its made for two people and pretty sturdy I guess.  We fit eight of us on there, and three of them were guys.  It was squishy but we didn't sink!  It was quite the afternoon of fun! I would post more pics but I'm thinking I shouldn't for my friends' privacy sake.  Maybe they don't want pictures on the net of them.

So that was last Sunday, but on Wed we went into Vancouver for the fireworks. These are heavy duty fireworks. The "Celebration of Light".  They made me take off work early so we could leave for Vancouver earlier. It was an experience.  We went for sushi, at a cute little place which I'm not ashamed to promote on my blog. Look how cute their logo is!

Looks good doesn't it? So we had sushi and bought some snacks at save on foods (as well as a mini cheesecake) and jumped on the Sky train.  We road the sky train all the way to the end, got out at Waterfront station and looked up to see where one of our friends is going to be working on a practicum in September. I'm a bit jealous.  High rise office job in downtown Vancouver.  It sounds good even if it isn't that prestigious actually.  Then we went to see the Olympic Cauldron because one of the people with us hadn't been to the Olympics in Feb.  

It's kinda cool that you can get real close now. So from there we walked to English bay, and we went through this great part of Vancouver with trees on the streets and artsy houses.  I loved this blue and yellow one.

Then we got to the beach and I realized that yes this was worse than the olympics. Everyone was in one little area! But we got seats on a log/by the log and watched the sun go down. Did a crossword. I walked up to the surf and put my feet in the water. It was cold. The tide was coming in so the people at the front were having to move back as the water came up.  Kinda funny to see that.

So did you see the building on that top photo? No? Go back and look. See it now?  Did you see the tree growing at the top?  Yep. thats a huge tree growing on top of a building. It obviously is built for it but its still strange to see!  It was Mexico night, so of course they needed to have some spanish guitar player people.

So now that we have gone to the beach and watched the sun set it wasn't long till we saw the...

"FIREWORKS!"

However, As you can see, sometimes the pictures turn out funny.  It was was hard to get good shots, but I succeeded eventually. 

So now it is time to get super excited for the wedding this saturday of J squared. Oh how i love that couple, and love all the friends that are coming to celebrate!  Of course I'll post after its all over.  

And for my family: Sorry I'm not at the reunion. Have fun without me!

Wedding Number One

I'm so excited about this post!  I had the most amazing time at this wedding.  To save their privacy I'm not going to name names or am I going to post pictures with their faces... and its going to be hard.  But I loved being able to celebrate such a genuine love for each other and for God in their relationship.  God comes first, and it is so amazing to see.  They had a beautiful wedding in two great venues.  The church for the reception was AMAZING!  I couldn't believe how great the architecture and outdoor areas were.  I want to have my wedding there!

I could talk about how beautiful this couple is, how great their family is (the two dads played a song together in the ceremony and the whole family sang a song at the reception), and how entertaining their friends are. The best man played the piano beautifully just as background music during the reception for a while.  The stories that were told were so funny.  The bride and groom were so intentional to talk to all the tables and get a chance to thank everyone for coming.  Their hearts are so big.... they are just so perfect for each other.  

[SPOILER ALERT] I have a picture of a dress I'm wearing to a wedding next weekend.  If you don't want to ruin the surprise don't go all the way to the bottom


Okay, so after the wedding I realized that i was in Tsawwassen, which is right on the ocean. I was so close that I couldn't not go to the ocean.  So off i went to find a beach. I found one. But unfortunately it was too dark to really take pictures.  I took one of the moon and its reflection, and then took a picture of me and my dress (on the beach but you can't really tell).  And i got sand in my high heels. Just in case you were wondering.