The ABCs of me

I am mostly doing this for my own amusement, and partly because it has been way too long since I posted anything, and I'm only partway through writing a blog post and don't want to finish it now. Thus:

A-Age- 29, biologically... physically and emotionally is another story.

B-Bed Size- Whatever size the comfiest couch is, usually.

C- Chore you hate- I can be okay with any chore, but I prefer outdoor chores.

D- Dogs- <3!!! Except most small dogs. Some of my friends laugh at how much I love dogs.

E- Essential Start to your day- Nothing is essential, but I really enjoy a nice, hot cup of tea.

F-Favorite Colour- Green (and black, for non-sticklers).

G- Gold or Silver- Silver

H- Height- 5'4"ish

I- Instruments you play- Violin, piano, baritone, and to a lesser degree saxophone, percussion (xylophone, chimes, bells, snare), flute, acoustic guitar, and oboe.

J- Job Title- among others, childcare supervisor, baker, cleaner.

K- Kids- Yes, please. :)

L- Live- Victoria, British Columbia, and occasionally Ontario.

M-Mothers name- Stephanie Bellamy (nee Maddock).

N-Nick Names- Megh, Meghs, Meghsy, Meghie-Moo, Moo, Magee, Magoo, Kitty, MCB, Maggon.

O- Overnight hospital stay- Not one that I remember.

P- Pet Peeve- Bad/inconsiderate/oblivious drivers.

Q- Quote from a movie- Where do I start? I'll take one from my favourite movie: "My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions, loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife, and I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next.

R- Right or Left- Lefties forever! I am fairly ambidextrous, in general, though.

S- Siblings- I have two older brothers. That's all.

T- Time you wake up- Mostly around 6:30am. Preferred time would be around 10am, after going to sleep at 3am.

U- Underwear- Yes. Every day.

V-Vegetables you dislike- Cooked peas. Anything else is passable, at worst.

W- What makes you late- trying to fit too much stuff into a day. Or making tea.

X-rays you have had done- Just my wrists, to check for possible defects.

Y-Yummy Food you make- Everything I make is yummy. (I second this). My pancakes and hot chocolate (which I do realize isn't a food) are apparently pretty stellar.

Z- Zoo animal of the most favourite- hmmm... so many to love. Probably would pick the panther.

A post began some time ago, and now finally culminating in this...

At the start of May my lovely cousin Amanda came to visit. We had a lot of things going on while she was here, such as hot yoga (something I will not put myself through again unless I feel an overwhelming urge to cause myself to faint), Alison's bachelorette, hiking up Mount Doug, and a trip to Seattle. The bachelorette was held on Saltspring, an absolutely gorgeous Gulf Island.

Above is the view from the veranda of our cabin at Cusheon Lake Resort... *sigh* I don't think I'm supposed to divulge exactly what went on during the weekend, but we had fun playing some games, and spent much of Saturday at Ganges Harbour at the market, which was interesting and entertaining.

Not long after that adventure, Kaitlyn, Amanda and I went forth to Seattle, in search of clothing and Relient K. We succeeded, and also found the unexpected treasure of the EMP/SFM, which was really interesting, and helped our trio fulfill our collective life-long dream of becoming rockstars!! Also, the architecture of the museum was really unique. Observe from one vantage point:

We spent Tuesday night at the City Hostel. Our room was #309, that had a somewhat creepy mural on it. I think we were all nightmare-free, however. It was sad to say good-bye to Amanda on the Thursday, but we did manage to fit a lot in and make it a very worthwhile trip.

Alison's much anticipated wedding was last weekend, and all-in-all things went as planned and everyone enjoyed themselves :D One of my favourite pics of the day:


We've had some good weather over the last while, so we (me and random other persons) have had some great nights of slo-pitch, an afternoon of skimboarding, some fun volleyball and soccer juggling times, and a sweet hike.

Other random highlight: A couple of weeks ago Dave took me out for a ride on his sport bike again; we had a nice long ride through some empty, winding trails. It was absolutely stellar!

Favourite quote of the day: "U like ... unicorn." (Joanne, while listing off her flight number, and mishearing me say, "Like uniform".) :D

Strangest thing I've seen lately: One of the girls at the out-of-school care has a pet bunny, Dusty, that she loves dearly and speaks of often. The other day she brought in pictures of it... taken during the procedure to neuter it. The gas-masked bunny was my favourite.

(Actual date of completion = June 6th, 2010)

April flowers

Well, I have not quite been meeting my goal of blogging once a month... but I am still trying. It seems like it has been a long time since that last post. I’ve fit a lot of things into that time. The tennis tournament was a good learning experience (for both me and Chris, on a couple of levels), and that’s all I have to say about that.

The last couple of months have been sort of a transitioning period for a lot my friends, either students going into exams, then into summer/graduation, or people moving around and job hunting/finding. In the midst of this, I played in a couple of hockey tournaments, kept working my three jobs, played a lot of tennis (and watched some, like Roddick winning the Sony Ericsson!), and enjoyed numerous delicious meals and conversations (sometimes over meals, sometimes in places like a pool, a hallway, or a basement) with fabulous people.

I saw How to Train Your Dragon at the start of the month. I haven’t seen many of the animated Pixar or DreamWorks movies lately, and for the most part haven’t wanted to... but this one I really enjoyed!! Slow-pitch started a few weeks ago, and it’s been a slow start for the ACF co-ed team, as we’ve forfeited 2 of our first 4 games; we’ve been having a good time, regardless.

The April 16^th weekend a group of us went up to Denman. This is my favourite group shot from the beach there:

Pictured below is Chris in his (then) newly purchased 1992 Nissan ZX300, twin-turbo, 300 horsepower beaut of a ride. I have the privilege of driving it part of the way up to Denman, and part of the way back. It's fun to drive! (And it's not a mirror image - it's a right-hand drive)

Life is good!!

The long, dark winter of the soul...

Just does not exist when you live in Victoria! How can your soul be in winter time when you can play tennis outside in a t-shirt and shorts, under the sun, in balmy 16 degree weather? February was an absolutely glorious month here in Victoria!! It's been good getting out and playing some tennis as I am planning on playing in a mixed doubles tournament next weekend. I do miss the cold and snow, there's no denying, but tennis (among a few other things) does assuage my soul somewhat...

Needless to say, with three jobs, more than occasional participation in sports, and so many little things to take up my time (e.g. friends, haha) life has been really busy since I got back to Victoria. The trip back to Ontario over Christmas was definitely a nice break from running around being continuously busy, and I could almost go for that kind of a break again. However, I am still feeling blessed in each of my jobs, and thoroughly enjoying the community God has given me here!

Three prime examples from this community are seen (with me) below:

Kaitlyn, Harrison (Chris's roommate/Kaitlyn's boyfriend), me, and Chris, at a fountain outside of the Empress in downtown Victoria. Taken on the day we survived a tsunami (taken not long after said tsunami was purposed to hit).

No vember?

What's a vember? Anyway, yeah the last while has been crazy, hence the lack of actually getting a blog up despite planning on doing so a number of times...

Thanksgiving was a wonderful getaway: spending some time in the country, going on a hike with a couple of good friends (Anica and Kate), and admiring creation! Also, during the Thanksgiving weekend, I received a call from COBS asking me to come in for an interview, which I did, and am now working there 2 morning a week, and loving it. It's interesting, busy work, and the atmosphere is awesome. :D

I haven't been playing as much hockey lately, but other than that have been busy with the usual of work and sports, and also we've (well, me, at least) started hanging out with our neighbours a lot, watching movies, having good discussions... yeah, it's pretty sweet having friends that live close by! I haven't really had that since I was young. Oh, and Tailgate Grill, which I'm somewhat involved in now that it's not Sunday night (the Spitfires usual ice time), has a website. Huzzah!!

I didn't do much for Halloween... I was really tired that weekend, I think because I was fighting something off. 3 friends and I went downtown to a haunted house on the 30th, although one of us was being a pansy (I won't name names, but it wasn't me). We went and played pool afterward, which was sweet, since it had been a while since I'd played... and it showed. ;(

This month has been a bit frenetically paced, but I'm enjoying the creative juices continuously flowing at the Stank. My Stankmate Emily and I are both endeavouring to write a novel this month, and Bethi (another Stankmate) is writing and recording a new song for everyday of November (newvembersongs.blogspot.com); I've been honoured to be part of a few of them! Yeah, so I'm cleaning 5 1/2 hours a week, working at Cobs 15 hours a week, and then after-school care takes up about 14 hours a week... it's almost like 1 full time job, but I enjoy them all differently, and it's nice to have variety. :D

Giving thanks...

There are really so many things to be thankful in my life, and yet so often a little of not-good can outweigh a ton of goodness. I need to work on that. Working cleaning and doing after-school care is still quite enjoyable, and I've done a bit of dog-sitting as well, which is always great.

I've fallen into a bit of a routine, but am not nearly as busy as I'd like to be, and it seems to sort of run in the family that we feel at a loss if we don't have an over-flowing plate of commitments and responsibilities. I unfortunately don't really think I've been spending my free time in the best ways possible, but that's another thing I need to work on. Hmmm... just making lists of way in which I need to be refined could probably use up a lot of that free time, but that's not really constructive. I need action plans. Aaaaaanyway, I'm currently reading a book by A.J. Jacobs entitled The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible. It's been amusing and interesting so far, but sadly I'll have to return it before I'm finished (or else suffer the price of more overdue charges than I care to pay). Just thought I would share a little excerpt (as a set-up, I'll clue you into the fact that he's stuck in his bathroom): "By noon I'm sitting on the floor, my back against the shower door. I sit. And sit some more. And something odd happens. I know that, outside the bathroom, the world is speeding along. That blogs are being read. Wild salmon is being grilled. Reggaeton is being explained to middle-aged white marketing executives.
But I'm okay with it. It doesn't cause my shoulders to tighten. Nothing I can do about it. I've reached an unexpected level of acceptance. For once, I'm savouring the present. I'm admiring what I have, even if it's thirty-two square feet of fake marble and an angled electrical outlet. I start to pray. And, perhaps for the first time, I pray in true peace and silence - without glancing at the clock, without my brain hopscotching from topic to topic.
This is what the Sabbath should feel like. A pause. Not just a minor pause, but a major pause. Not just a lowering of the volume, but a muting. As the famous rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel put it, the Sabbath is a sanctuary in time."

I really love the idea of the Sabbath as a sanctuary in time. However, I find even the minor pauses easier to grasp ahold of and savour while away - doesn't matter where I'm away to, just where I'm away from. While in Mexico, either on vacation or mission trip, while travelling through Africa, while taking a walk in the woods, a swim in the lake, or a bike ride along the Galloping Goose. During these often transitory times I find that I can breath a little deeper, ponder more deeply, reflect more richly. When I don't seize these intermittent occasions often enough, I find my soul starts to cry out, much like a desperate peasant at the door of the Notre Dame cathedral, "Sanctuary!".

Okay, so I'm done waxing philosophical. Like I said, there's not really any big news to share on this end, except that I purchased my plane tickets for the usual Christmas trip home, and at a fairly decent price. I get three weeks at home this year, which is sweet!

I'm heading to the mainland for the Thanksgiving weekend, visiting some good friends, and spending some time in the country (sort of; I'll be at A Rocha, Surrey location). God is good.

P.S. A few weeks ago I hiked half of the Juan de Fuca trail, which was gorgeous and only slightly challenging. That's where this picture is from:

Paraphrased excerpts from a pile of journal entries made during my trip to Uganda!

So here’s my Africa story, which I so pithily titled:

For those of you who may not be aware, I took a trip with 6 other women to Uganda this August, the main purpose being to build a children’s home for the Watoto village Suubi 2. This is a brief detailing of some of our adventures, and some of my thoughts and impressions relating to this amazing country.

My first glimpses of Africa were from the plane, and I was enchanted by the lush greenness of the landscape, as it was bathed in the golden fingers of sunlight streaming through breaks in the swathe of clouds. The drive from the airport to the Adonai guest house was a good introduction to many of the differences between Canada and Uganda (or Kampala, anyway). The list includes the quality of the roads (pothole anyone?), the fact that it is not rare to see people walking around with machetes, that guards and members of the army all carry plainly visible guns, and that there are all manner of cows and goats peacefully munching on grass (or in the case of goats, anything) along the sides of roads. The atmosphere impressed me as much more laidback and community-minded than I am used to, but I really enjoyed it. They definitely aren’t as hung up on order and structure.

We had about 5 free days before were scheduled to start building, and so most of our 2nd full day in Uganda was spent driving up to Gulu, a northern city, smaller and much quieter than Kampala. A scripture reference for Zephaniah 3:17 was seen on the back of a bus travelling between Kampala and Gulu. It says, “The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save, He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.” This really encompasses what we saw in Uganda, and a vision that many Ugandans seem to have embraced.

Our accommodations in Gulu were lovely, and I especially appreciated the courtyard, providing more opportunity to spend time outside. Some of our team actually even played some soccer with people from another team visiting from the UK. Our 3 days in Gulu made quite an impact on all of us, as we visited both a Watoto children’s village and an IDP (Internally Displaced Persons) camp. The village was obviously a joy to visit, as the kids just surround you and love you, begging for love and attention in return. We were all enthralled with the children and spent an hour or two talking to them, playing with them, singing with them... their zest for life is contagious! I think there was a sneaking suspicion among us that the IDP camp might be at the other end of the spectrum entirely, but that thinking was abolished, as the people of the camp greeted us warmly, inviting us to sit, surrounding us to listen to our introductions, thank yous, and prayer. A number of them had recently graduated from a trauma counselling program, and so we congratulated them on that. Just one more sign of how God is working in Uganda. The strength and resilience of people continuously surprises me; these people have not been hardened, but instead they display a peace, humility, and compassion that I wish I could transport within me to dispense at will.

Church in both Watoto Gulu and Watoto Central (in Kampala) was awesome. I really do not have words to describe the experience of being in a church packed and overflowing with people hungry to praise and worship and experience Jesus. It was humbling and eye-opening to be in the midst of that, and later on sparked some interesting discussions among our group.
The Watoto organization is amazing. Along with the children’s villages and trauma counselling, they have The Bulrushes (Baby Watoto), Living Hope (a women’s ministry), and are currently working on a home solely for children who are ex-soldiers. We had the pleasure of spending a morning at the Bulrushes, and it was wonderful to hear the stories of some of these infants and toddlers and to know that they now have a future.

Oh right, almost forgot about the building. It was a lot of fun, opening every morning with song and prayer, working with a fabulous group of locals. The site was beautiful, and we were blessed with near perfect weather, with the only rain of the week coming on Friday, our last day of building, and only lasting about 20 minutes. I’ve definitely skipped over a few other things, such as the traditional lunch at a children’s home in the Bbira village, and our trip to Jinja to visit the source of the Nile, but I think I’ve hit the highlights.

The last night we were there the 6 of us sat down with Harry for a debrief session, giving honest answers to questions he asked regarding our thoughts and opinions on places we visited, our accommodations, etc. We all articulated that we had found everything, from the accommodations to the food, to our liking. Although we had sometimes felt a bit out of place, especially in the beginning, as we sort of drifted in and out of places and acclimatized; we soon realized that we were indeed welcome wherever we went, and we were able to communicate more easily and connect better to the places and the people. I mentioned that I didn’t feel we really got a good sense of what everyday life was like, because it seemed like so much of the time we had the red carpet rolled out for us, and were treated as appreciated guests. I tend to be someone who gets the most out of the littlest, less eventful details, so it may just be me who feels that being privy to those kinds of experiences – the “nitty gritty”, mundane parts of life - would have made for a more impactful narrative to share.

We developed many inside jokes throughout the trip, such as the one about Harry being our Charlie, and us 6 being his angels. We had a great time goofing around, good-naturedly poking fun at each other, mugging for pictures, and just generally enjoying each other’s company. I didn’t take my camera, and so left the picture taking to the other “angels”, but trust me, there are some real gems among the hundreds... Some unexpected (I used this word just for you, Tanya) things to come out of this trip:

- The acquisition of more music! Shiny!! Harry lent me his iPod to check out his music (I repaid the favour in kind), and kindly put a bunch of local music on it, all of which I am utterly enjoying.

- The relationship we had with the locals we worked with while building the house was surprising; I expected them to be friendly and helpful, but wasn’t expecting their interest in us, and our country. We had a number of good discussions, and their banter and the joy exuded each day, without fail, definitely made the building process even more of a delight.

- Learning some Luganda. And also learning some interesting things about Uganda, such as the fact that current life expectancy for women is 60 years, and for men, 53.

- I discovered that goat is tasty! Cute, amusing, and tasty - pretty much my favourite animal
all-round they are now. ;)

Any questions/comments/criticisms are welcome!

The road goes ever on and on...

After a week back in Victoria - which felt like much longer - I am waiting to get picked up to head off to Uganda (via London)!!

www.victoriagoestoafrica.blogspot.com

I'm really looking forward to this journey and praying there are no hitches in our travel and for safety while we are there.

This last week has been a bit of a busy whirlwind, as I attended a bridal shower, a Bible study, a going-away party, a wedding and reception, our church service in our lovely new location, went to Sooke potholes for some adventuring, and then saw Star Trek in the IMAX. There were a bunch of other errand type things thrown in there in preparation for travel or buying gifts for said shower and wedding. And job hunting. It is good to be back, although as usual I do miss many things about Ontario.

Okay, I gotta run and finish last minute packing before I get picked up, but I'll obviously update about the trip either during it, or (more likely) when I get back!!! YAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!

P.S. This is where we're staying while in Kampala: http://www.adonaiguesthouse.com/index.htm

Happy birthday, dear Canada

I was looking at the date of my last post, and couldn't believe I hadn't posted since May. Cer-azy! Anyhow, June was a bit of a whirlwind of a month. Notables since the last blog include:

- working up the soil and planting a garden in the back corner of our yard
- spending a day biking along the ocean with a great group of friends
- playing a bunch of slow-pitch games, including a 4 game tournament to wrap up the season (we got 2nd in our division)
- planning or helping with a few funraisers for our Watoto trip to Uganda
- volunteering with Operation Trackshoes, as a counsellor, for the June12-14th weekend
- finishing up my first year of work at the OSC with a trip to Witty's Lagoon; so much fun!

So yeah, sorry this is point form (and lacking in pictures), but it's late, and I still need to pack as I am leaving early tomorrow morning to catch a ferry, and have a long day of driving ahead, finishing in Vernon, and then eventually moving on to hiking in the Monashees... and I still need to pack. Of course! :D I'm stoked.

May Day(s)!!

The first weekend in May was pretty packed with awesomeness. I actually got to sleep in on the Saturday, a luxury! After having some people over for dinner that night, I met Willem and Jason downtown to catch the start of a Funktapus show, with Mike Edel, who I met through Willem, opening the show. Seriously, check out that Mike Edel video, all filming done in beautific Victoria (and I know a few people who are in it :)) accompanied by a lilting melody. From there I went to meet a bunch of people at a cinema to watch Wolverine, which I have to say although it was entertaining, it could have been better. I did love Gambit, though. Some of the crowd came back to the Stank (as our home is appropriately labelled) afterward for a bonfire and s'mores, and music, of course.

Sunday was fairly typical (church, lunch, etc.) until, down at the Tailgate Grill (a group of us go downtown, parking outside Streetlink, and feed hamburgers to... well, anyone who wants one - mostly people staying on the streets or in the shelter) I met a couple of guys from Paisley! Go figure. That was pretty stochastic; it made my night. Nothing too notable happened that first week of May, except things like walking at Willow's Beach with Emily (I am the blur of gypsy wind in the picture), Mom having her birthday and Aunt Mary and Uncle Dwight having their anniversary, and Aunt Tess having surgery. You know, nothing too crazy. But seriously, there has been a lot of praying going on, and as so far God's taken good care of us, I figure we can keep trusting. :)

Friday night Alex finally came back from Summerland, so I picked her up from the airport, then joined the already assembled group of people at The Stank for a birthday party of sorts (at least there was cake and ice cream) for Jason, as he was heading to Guatemela the next day so would be out of the country for his actual birthday...


For the long weekend, Emily and I headed to the mainland to visit Anica and Jonathan, Anica in White Rock/Surrey (works for A Rocha), and Jon in Abbotsford. The whole weekend was pretty much amazing!! I love the mainland scenery and atmosphere, which is more like Ontario than the island, and it was also great to spend some time in the country, helping out on a farm. :D And yeah, seeing Anica and Jon again was spectacular, as they are two of my favourite people... we had some sweet times, going out for breakfast, visiting Westminster Abbey in Mission, checking out Fort Langley. "There were moments of gold and there were flashes of light." On Sunday night we ended up (sans Jon) going to dinner chez Steve, who works for A Rocha. It was a delicious French-style dinner, where many different types of cheese and meat, with some crackers and bread, were provided, and it was up to you to fry your own meat and melt your own cheese on a device that sat on the table. I liked it. I also liked the number of djembes sitting around Steve's house, and the steel drum. We had a couple of primitive group jamming sessions. :)

It's been pretty typically lovely (aka warm and sunny) here this month, which is awesome, because we can spend lot of work time outdoors, something the kids love. It also means I can bike to work more. Even our Bible study is taking advantage, as next Wednesday's is going to be outdoors, something that will hopefully become routine. And bonfires and barbecues are always fun, too.

Random pondering: I know a ton (possibly a literal tonne) of people born in May.

April showers?

April was a month of splendor here in Victoria, B.C.! The first of the month was a great day, replete with work, sports, a dinner with friends, and then brought to a close by laughing my head off playing Jabberwocky with some of my best friends. "The game that lets your imagination run wild!" Jabberwocky is probably my favourite board game; it's extremely fun (and I don't say that lightly)!

I played in a hockey tournament the first weekend of April, subbing as an out player (played wing) for Team Xtreme, which was sweet. They are a pretty good team, with many skilled players. I only played 2 games, as they were full for the others. I also bought my first wetsuit that weekend, an exciting purchase! Thanks Dad, for the late Christmas present :D



Over Easter weekend, as I mentioned, I took a roadtrip with 4 friends to San Diego. We left Thursday night, 4 of us catching the 7pm ferry across to Tsawwassen, and picking up the 5th member of the crew just North of the ferry dock. We made it into the US pretty quickly that evening, no line ups. The rest of the driving was lovely, especially when I got to drive from Oregon into California amidst a flurry! Spectacular!! :D Honorable mention to the pillow fight 3 of us had as we drove by LA at 9pm Friday night ... the 46 hours we got to spend in Carlsbad and San Diego were such a blessing, spending a lot of time outdoors and on the beach, and also getting to check out Body Worlds. We went to an Easter Sunrise service on Sunday morning, as I mentioned, and there's nothing like watching a sun rise to help one reflect on how God's mercy and grace really has given each of us new life. We made it back safe and happy, albeit sunburnt and somewhat sleepy, after only 24 hours of driving. We managed to catch the last ferry back to the island and there said our tearful (well, maybe not quite) good-byes, after a few parting shots (ie. pictures) ...















I played in another hockey tournament during the last weekend of April, playing goal for the Spitfires, my usual team. Our record was 3-2, but unfortunately one of the games we lost was a semi-final (under auspicious circumstances). Ah well, it was a well-put together tournament, I won an MVP award for one game, and it was a fun way to end out the girls' hockey season.

One month of life squeezed into a few paragraphs

I was going to go for two months in a few paragraphs ... but yeah, didn't work out.

March started off with a visit from Dad (Monday the 2nd - Friday the 6th), which was awesome! I got a couple of days off of work and we went up to Mount Washington, which ended up being the only skiing in B.C. I got in this year ... it was pretty nice both days and we enjoyed the sun and slopes.

The Friday that Dad left I ended up getting to be part of a pieing with the Order of Pi, which was pretty cool since it's usually (always?) just engineering students that get to do the "executions" (it was thanks to Jason, who is in that video - the guy putting the hood on the accused). It was sort of a right place, right time thing.

Work has continued to be pretty fun, and a good learning experience. There have been a few days where I have been frustrated with kids' attitudes or whatever, but they're only human too, so that's to be expected. Mostly things are eggs in coffee (yay 30s slang). I thankfully managed to coerce (probably too strong of a word, since he does enjoy it) Jason into occasional subbing for the OSC, and the kids like having a guy around once in a while, for sure. And I'm not gonna lie, it's fun working with a friend.

I spent the Wednesdays of this term participating in Campus Alpha, which was a great experience. There were a decent number of non-Christians that came out, and we always had good discussions, and people were general open about their beliefs and what they thought about the videos we watched each week. Oh, and the meals each week were absolutely fabulous ... mmmmm ... I miss Alpha. :D I still have Bible study going on most weeks, though, which can also consist of good discussion, fellowship, and occasionally food.

I spent a week in March (over March break) house-sitting for the Reston's, and looking after their dogs. It was a lot of fun: getting up each morning to walk the dogs on the nearby beach, and hosting a couple of dinners in a new-to-me (and also actually less than a year old) place.

March 22nd was a day I'll never forget - it was the day I got my first ride on a motorcycle!! It was stellar!!!

The last weekend of March was pretty sweet, with a bonfire at Island View beach on Friday night (which is where and when the picture is from), some hard-core (haha) indoor soccer with 20/30s on Saturday, and some hanging out at the beach after church on Sunday.

Procrastination is the name of my game

Yeah, I've been planning on getting some updates up really soon ... seriously! For now I'll just toss up a couple of pictures from my Easter roadtrip to San Diego, and blog about it soon (as in this week some time). I PROMISE!!!

Top picture is me with the group of people I drove down to San Diego with (from l-r: Emily, Willem, Jon, Me, Jason) standing on the beach (obviously) after the Easter Sunday Sunrise service we attended - actually in Carlsbad, just North of San Diegs.

The group picture below was taken in front of a stained glass window of a church in Old Town San Diego. We were told to "look holy or Mexican".

The life and times of Meghan, lately

It's a good thing I naturally have a lot of energy (or maybe that's just because of what I eat, because it's definitely nothing to do with getting enough sleep!), otherwise I'd probably be dog-tired by 4 of the clock most days ... this last month has been so rich, full of blessings and wonderful fellowship, some new experiences, and some absolutely glorious weather (e.g. some snow, a lot of sunshine, a couple of rainbows). :D Some highlights were getting to spend a couple of evenings playing Wii with some good friends (once was Wii Olympics, once was Wii fit), starting to play squash, and getting back on track and actaully getting a timline put together to finish my project.
There was another suprise party in February, for one of the most awesome people I know (Alex Marshall, seen in the picture as obviously very enthused about the birthday cakes), which was fun. There are a ton of people I know (probably literally a short ton, which is two thousand pounds) born around the end of February. Guess that old saying "In the spring a young man’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love" has some ring or truth ...

Most random thing I saw this last month: a bulldog trying to skateboard. Well, it sort of looked like a combination or trying to skatebaord and trying to make the board move so that he could attack the moving wheels. Almost all of the kids (at the OSC) found this highly entertaining. I wish I had a video. Of them and of the dog.

Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away ...

Well, I did challenge Willem to suprise me, and he definitely succeeded. A few of my friends collaborated to put together a surprise birthday for me last night, and it was amazing!! I definitely feel more blessed than ever by the community I've found here in Victoria - it's so nice to feel at home among a group of people, which is something that, until now, I had not found outside of my family.

So this has been sitting as a draft for a while, as it is now January 29th, so I think I'll just post this, with the ammendment that January has been filled with work, fellowship (and other blessings), and getting things - work and school related - sorted out, which I have. YAY!! :D

First post of the new year ... and it's mostly about last year ...

Well, my Christmas holidays were definitely blessed, starting from the fact that I made it in to Toronto the morning of the day when a lot of flights started getting delayed or cancelled, and ending with a lovely flight back to Victoria during which I watched Canada win another gold medal in the World Juniors!!

On the way to Toronto, I was waiting in my seat as the people who had been sitting behind me were filing down the aisle of the plane, when one gentleman stopped to let me off ahead of him. I said thanks, and proceeded to deplane (I love that word). As I am walking up the exit ramp I hear the same gentleman whistling “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” and yes I did start whistling along :). That pretty much made my flight, especially as I had just been reading one of the books of Nanna’s prose and poetry.

It was so great to be able to get to see most of my family, whether for little or large amounts of time. Getting to go sledding at Harrison Park for the first time was sweet, as was having Nanna over to visit, and I also appreciated the opportunity to cater to the every whim of my cousin Robi ;) (poor dear was laid up with a broken ankle).We got almost everyone together for a nice family dinner, a very delicious meal, on the 28th, which is always a highlight of my holidays. Getting to be part of a couple of advent services was also nice, because my church in Victoria doesn't do advent, and I miss it.

During the course of the 2 ½ weeks I was home I got to experience flurries – almost whiteout conditions at some times – as well as hail and pouring rain. We had some major flooding (as evidence by the pic below) going on for about ½ a week, the kind we usually see in spring. It was quite the challenge driving in some of these conditions, but thankfully we made it through with no serious mishaps :D

Soaring, tumbling, free-wheeling ...

This weekend I had, yet again, the pleasure of travelling to Denman Island, to stay at the property of my "arch nemesis" :) It's always so lovely to spend time up there, away from the city, enveloped in glorious nature (almost feels like a whole new world ;)) - pictures will follow shortly. We headed up Saturday morning (there were about 25 of us) and as my car was one of the first to arrive, we decided to head straight down to the ocean, and spent some time admiring the ferocity of the roiling sea (the tide was in, and there were some sweet whitecaps). That evening was spent drying off indoors, playing some games, enjoying the warmth of the fire, and watching some movies.
Sunday was a busy day, as much of it was spent outdoors, checking out a local hermitage, and then taking the usual trek through Fillongley Park. The skies actually cleared up, and for much of the afternoon the sun was intermittently stretching fingers of light through the clouds. Just down a path from the hermitage was probably the most stellar climbing tree I have ever seen in my life!! We had a lot of fun climbing around in that tree, and creating some interesting photo ops. And best of all, no one got hurt. Much. On the walk back from the park, I finally achieved one of my life goals of slapping a bull in the butt. Okay, so it was never a goal, and I think I may have done it before, but it made for some good times none the less. Turns out there is a wide variety of things I'll do to make people laugh.

So there you have it - pretty much what I've been up to lately :D I am now back in Victoria, as I had a hockey game I wanted to play tonight. I have the day off tomorrow, so hopefully I'll be able to get some good amount of school work done, as this project is just plaguing me, always there at the back of my head. Other than that, and actually even with that, things are going splendidly, as I am happy, healthy, and blessed!!!