A quick post

I wrote this a couple months ago when there wasn't anything to do at work.. I would call it Prodigal, but that's way too Cliche, so you can call it whatever you'd like. My Mom didn't think it made any sense but I thought I'd post it anyway to see if ya'll could figure it out. :-)

Take me
As I am
Where I stand

Hold on.

Running
Afraid to see
That I am free

Let me go.

Chase me
Take my hand
Help me stand

Bring me home.

Quote of the day

"When I grow up I am going to get a season's pass to Pizza Pizza!"

Courtesy of Mark William Luimes

Too much snowboarding or what?

By the time he grows up they might even sell seasons passes to pizza pizza!

:-P

To all my devoted fans... smrk

Hello everybody. Just so you know you are still allowed to read and comment on this post despite it's title. :-) I am sort of curious if anyone ever reads this blog, seeing as I haven't been the most faithful in keeping it up. You see, I have this problem of doing amazingly exciting things so often I don't have enough time to post on them! Which I consider quite a pleasant problem really.

I have been snowboarding 3 times so far this year... emphasis on so far. :-) (I am going again tomorrow, and then next week to Mt. Tremblant!!!)
They were all great days, though some had *herm* better conditions than others. I must say I have never been snowboarding completely soaked through on hills so icy and bumpy that it felt like my brain was rattling around in my head... :-) But I thoroughly enjoyed that day, and all the others... January 21st was one of the best snowboarding days ever. I missed going with the whole group of us like last year... but the people I went with are awesome and we had a great time.

But anyway, this past weekend I had a sweet 16th birthday party with Ashley and Janelle. I think it was probably the best turnout I've ever had to a get together. It was a great night... I had so much fun. The next day was amazing too... we went to the Vrooms and played capture th flag, told "stories" by the campfire and hung out and sang inside. By the way, I love singing!!!!!
I think it is the greatest thing that I have friends who don't think it's stupid to sing and that we can stand together and sing our hearts out in praise. Those are the times when you can feel God so close... right with you in the room... and know He is pleased.

I know I don't say it often enough, but I really appreciate my family and friends in a huge way. You've probably all heard me say it but going on a mission's trip is the best way in the world to learn what an incredibly awesome and DIFFERENT life we have. It's so easy to complain... until you have a tiny glimpse of the reality of what so many people live with, even here in North America.

Have you ever really wondered why we were put in the family and country we are? Why God has given us this amazing childhood and growing up surrounded by freedom and family and friends who love and desire to serve Him?

I think He is going to do something amazing with us.

~Extreme Willingness~

"My dress" the young girl murmured, her words slurred through swollen lips. "Please give me my dress. I want to hold it. "

The Christians surrounding the girl's bed were sad. Because of her extensive internal injuries, doctors could do nothing for her. Weeks ago, the believers had bought her a while dress to celebrate her new life and pure heart in Christ Jesus.
Her father had not been pleased with his daughter's decision to follow Christ. one night, in a drunken rage, he attacked his daughter, beating and kicking her. He left he lying in the muddy street to dies.
When she did not show up for church, her Christian friends went looking for her. They found the girl unconscious, lying in a heap, her formerly snow white dress now covered in blood and mud. She was brought to a doctor, but her injuries were severe.
Now she was asking for her dress.
"The dress is ruined," her friends told her. They tried to talk her out of it, thinking that seeing the ruined dress would break down the girl's spirit. With the simple faith of a ten-year-old, she whispered, "Please, I want to show the dress to Jesus. He was willing to bleed for me. I just want Jesus to know that I was willing to bleed for him."
Shortly afterwards, the young girl died.


God is not interesting in our ability. We may be talented. Resourceful. Wealthy. Professional, popular, and punctual. Offering our carious abilities in God's service, however, is nothing like offering our availability. Our abilities are about ourselves--- we can see ourselves doing this or that for God. in contrast, our availability is about God alone--- we can only imagine how God will use us in His service. Being available to god means being willing to obey no matter what the cost. God wants our willingness to serve him regardless of our specific abilities. How do we become so willing? that, too, is God's gift. He gives us the "want to"--- the will or desire to be available to him.

Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so
Much seek to be consoled, as to console;
To be understood, as to understand;
To be loved, as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive.
It is pardoning that we are pardoned.
It is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

St. Francis of Assisi.

(All of this is taken out of Extreme devotion-- a book I highly recommend.)

Story...

Hello,

I know Bethany posted this on her blog quite a while ago but I was just watching the video again and I thought I'd share it here, so those of you who haven't watched it can see it, and those of you have can see it again!

If you have time, please read it and watch the movie, it's an amazing story. Makes me teary-eyed every time I see it.


[From Sports Illustrated, By Rick Reilly]

I try to be a good father. Give my kids mulligans. Work nights to pay For their text messaging. Take them to swimsuit shoots.

But compared with Dick Hoyt, I suck.

Eighty-five times he's pushed his disabled son, Rick, 26.2 miles in Marathons. Eight times he's not only pushed him 26.2 miles in a Wheelchair but also towed him 2.4 miles in a dinghy while swimming and Pedaled him 112 miles in a seat on the handlebars--all in the same day.

Dick's also pulled him cross-country skiing, taken him on his back Mountain climbing and once hauled him across the U.S. On a bike. Makes Taking your son bowling look a little lame, right?

And what has Rick done for his father? Not much--except save his life.
This love story began in Winchester , Mass. , 43 years ago, when Rick Was strangled by the umbilical cord during birth, leaving him Brain-damaged and unable to control his limbs.

"He'll be a vegetable the rest of his life;'' Dick says doctors told him And his wife, Judy, when Rick was nine months old. ``Put him in an Institution.''

But the Hoyts weren't buying it. They noticed the way Rick's eyes Followed them around the room. When Rick was 11 they took him to the Engineering department at Tufts University and asked if there was Anything to help the boy communicate. ``No way,'' Dick says he was told. ``There's nothing going on in his brain.''

"Tell him a joke,'' Dick countered. They did. Rick laughed. Turns out a Lot was going on in his brain. Rigged up with a computer that allowed Him to control the cursor by touching a switch with the side of his Head, Rick was finally able to communicate. First words? ``Go Bruins!'' And after a high school classmate was paralyzed in an accident and the School organized a charity run for him, Rick pecked out, ``Dad, I want To do that.''

Yeah, right. How was Dick, a self-described ``porker'' who never ran More than a mile at a time, going to push his son five miles? Still, he Tried. ``Then it was me who was handicapped,'' Dick says. ``I was sore For two weeks.''

That day changed Rick's life. ``Dad,'' he typed, ``when we were running, It felt like I wasn't disabled anymore!''

And that sentence changed Dick's life. He became obsessed with giving Rick that feeling as often as he could. He got into such hard-belly Shape that he and Rick were ready to try the 1979 Boston Marathon.

``No way,'' Dick was told by a race official. The Hoyts weren't quite a Single runner, and they weren't quite a wheelchair competitor. For a few Years Dick and Rick just joined the massive field and ran anyway, then They found a way to get into the race Officially: In 1983 they ran another marathon so fast they made the Qualifying time for Boston the following year.

Then somebody said, ``Hey, Dick, why not a triathlon?''

How's a guy who never learned to swim and hadn't ridden a bike since he Was six going to haul his 110-pound kid through a triathlon? Still, Dick Tried.

Now they've done 212 triathlons, including four grueling 15-hour Ironmans in Hawaii . It must be a buzzkill to be a 25-year-old stud Getting passed by an old guy towing a grown man in a dinghy, don't you Think?

Hey, Dick, why not see how you'd do on your own? ``No way,'' he says. Dick does it purely for ``the awesome feeling'' he gets seeing Rick with A cantaloupe smile as they run, swim and ride together.

This year, at ages 65 and 43, Dick and Rick finished their 24th Boston Marathon, in 5,083rd place out of more than 20,000 starters. Their best Time? Two hours, 40 minutes in 1992--only 35 minutes off the world Record, which, in case you don't keep track of these things, happens to Be held by a guy who was not pushing another man in a wheelchair at the Time.

``No question about it,'' Rick types. ``My dad is the Father of the Century.''

And Dick got something else out of all this too. Two years ago he had a Mild heart attack during a race. Doctors found that one of his arteries Was 95% clogged. ``If you hadn't been in such great shape,'' One doctor told him, ``you probably would've died 15 years ago.'' So, in a way, Dick and Rick saved each other's life.

Rick, who has his own apartment (he gets home care) and works in Boston, and Dick, retired from the military and living in Holland, Mass. , always find ways to be together. They give speeches around the country and compete in some backbreaking race every weekend, including this Father's Day.

That night, Rick will buy his dad dinner, but the thing he really wants to give him is a gift he can never buy.

``The thing I'd most like,'' Rick types, ``is that my dad sit in the chair and I push him once.''

Check out the movie at the site: http://cjcphoto.com/can/

Minutes.

Their life is bright
their newlywed.
They're holding hands,
not looking ahead.
Some guy's been drinking,
he's on his way home,
and one minute later,
She's all alone.

An ordinary minute,
of an ordinary day.
An ordinary minivan,
that took his life away.
And if she could do it over,
She'd do it just the same,
and cherish every minute
because a minute changed
her life.

Living with the grief,
he can't drink away the pain.
Every time he closed his eyes,
he lived it all again.
He's running from a shadow,
of the man he'll never be.
He finally makes a choice,
it's the only way he sees.

and in an ordinary minute,
of an ordinary day,
with no one there to give him hope,
he took his life away.
And if he could do it over,
it would not turn out this way...

So cherish every minute,
because the minutes change
your life.


Where are your minutes going?
This is a question I have to ask myself, I'm afraid I spend more minutes staring at the wall then I do actually doing something really worthwhile.
I think we underestimate the power of a moment.

Turning over a new leaf.... page..... window...... thing

Hello everyone!

Suffice it to say that I have been recruited to rejoin the reincarnation of blogging. I would like to mention that I never actually stopped blogging, although perhaps my records record a rather poor recording.

I shall promise to strive valiantly in the health and well being of this newly awakened monster, and keep it well fed.

My only request is that you, my beloved readers, inspire and encourage me with oodles of comments and thus aid me in this never ending quest.

That is all for now.

Hello

Hey everybody... who actually still checks this.... here's the post I promised.

Actually, I was working on doing a nice long picture post for ya'll of my summer, but I can't come back on here until I'm caught up on school so you might have to wait a while. I will do it though.

So I'll just leave you with this:

You may never have to face the decision of whether or not you will die for your faith, but every day you face the decision of whether or not you will live for your faith.

I forget who wrote it.

hello and goodbye

Hey, I have been requested to make a post before I leave on vacation.

I must apologize to all my faithful blog-readers for the rather poor showing lately... I have been really busy, and, well, it's summertime. :-) Hopefully when school starts again it will get a little better, but this summer I've been gone pretty much as long as I've been home!

So anyway, I'm off to Algonquin park and to the cottage, so I'll talk to you all in a couple weeks.

Have an awesome summer!

Your friend and sister in Christ,

Heidi <><

South Dakota update...

Sorry I haven't updated anymore... I haven't even written anything down I've been so busy... today was saturday so we all had abreak and that was pretty awesome. Tomorrow we're going to the badlands! Like, the real badlands, not the ontario badlands. :-)

I really don't know where to start... there are so many things I could say, so many stories I could tell. I'm going to talk about the team first for a while.

The team here is awesome. I knew people for 3 days and felt like I'd known them forever. Everyone shares with eachother, has a common goal that unites us, and of course the obvoius we are all spending 2 weeks together together so it's pretty hard not to get to know people. :-)
The thing I think brings us together the most though is prayer. Every morning at 9 we have at team meeting where we sing some songs, get updates on everything, and pray. Today we prayed for 45 minutes... it didn't feel like 45 minutes at all, everyone just shared what was on their heart and honestly we could have prayed for another hour and not felt it. Andrew and Sean were joking that they could have went to Macdonalds and come back and everyone would still be praying. But there is so much to pray about...

These kids have just broken my heart. They are absolutely adorable, and love nothing better than to hug you... but their lives are so incredibly messed up. I'm at site 1 so what I have to say is about the younger kids, but there are some pretty incredible stories about the older ones too.

Just to give you a little taste of what these kids lives are like, I had two little kids the first 2 days, they were twins and their names were Jaydin and Junior. Jaydin just loved me and she was one of the cutest little girls I've met. She doesn't come anymore, because she keeps getting beat up by a bunch of other girls a little older than she is. This is a 5 year-old I'm talking about! She is living a life of fear! But the saddest thing is that I know the girls who beat her up and I love them as much as I love her! One of them, Shelby, is going for an open heart surgery on Monday... her fourth one. She is 7.

Joshua is probably one of my favorite kids at vbs. He is totally attatched to Kramer- a.k.a Andrew Williams, and I'll never forget it, we were having a water balloon fight and a bunch of the guys grabbed Kramer and carried him over to the little kids so they could all throw water balloons at him, and then Josh comes running up and throws himself infront of Andrew, trying to protect him... he did it twice... I just pray so hard that he could have that same devotion to Christ.
Joshua's Dad is in jail. His mom is moving away, and she doesn't love him, so she is leaving him behind to live with his Aunt.

These kids are Okreeks future... they want so badly to believe but there are so many things holding them back.. peer pressure, their parents, the Sundance religion that they follow... please pray that God will claim these kids, all of them, and tell Satan he can't have them!

Sorry this is so sporadic I'm just saying random things that come to my mind, and honestly I have so many more things I could say, I've hardly gotten started, but none of them would come anywhere near experiencing this, being with these kids, getting close to them, seeing the hurt and depression and fear on their faces, and then watching some of those same faces just light up when we sing, or when Sean plays with them, or they beat up Brian... :-)

Just keep praying. Please keep praying. I don't think I've ever felt the power of prayer as much as I have this week... Mrs. Dawn Hiesler, our amazing cook and an amazing lady was feeling really really sick one morning, and we prayed so hard for her in team meeting, and by the end f it she felt way better, and she was almost completely well by that night! You can try and explain it any way you want but that was God's hand.

Pray for our team too, 2 weeks is a long time to spend together, and 9 people is a lot to share the same shower. :-) (that's just our room, we have the big suite) Pray for our unity, help us not to get frusterated with eachother, and pray for us to be quieter cuz we have been having complaints since people got home really late some nights and then weren't very quiet.

And most of all pray for the round on which our seeds are being planted. We have such an amazing message to share with these people!

Love you all a lot and here's a hug for you. (( ))

Heidi

South Dakota!

Yes! We do have a computer out here! But don't expect too many updates cuz I'm really busy and there are about 34 of us.. :-)

I've been keeping a journal so I'm gonn post what I have so far if I have time to write it all out, we have to go to the reservation at 12:10.

Friday June 8 10:10

WE had a good yearend program, said a million goodbyes, and we are on our way to South Dakota! I love dirving at night... I love the lights, and watching the sky turn from blue to turqious to grey, and finally to black. I found out that with a little pusing and shoving I can fit my feet in the tiny space inder the middle front seat and stretch! w00t! There are 6 of us in this car and it's really squished, but not unbearable. I am now going to attempt to get some sleep.

2:00 (AM)
We crossed the border at around 12:30 with no problems! The stars are gorgeous but I ahven' gotten much sleep.

5:30 (American time)
We are parked beside a cornfield watching the sun come up and waiting while Melany calls the retreat center to get directions on how to get there! Exciting... breakfast is calling me... so is my toothbrush. :-S I think I got around 3 1/2 hours of sleep... so I'll survive anyway.

10:30 We're sitting at a rest stop on the second leg of our journey with the whole team and much more leg room. :-) There are 12 of us in the van... 11 girls and Andrew. :-) I had many good intentions of doing a pile of history, but so far I've read part of a chapter and studied for a test, then found out I'd already taken it. Grr...
It's a beautiful day, I smell really bad, and it feels like lunchtime!

12:20
We had a bit of car troubles, but it was just the fuel pump has probl;ems so it needs to be kept pretty full. But we stopped and I got a peanut fudge iced cream... mmmm... and then Lee-bee and I split a hamburger. In the car. That was an adventure. The music is playing, the wind is blowing, and life is pertty awesome. But I wish Jessica was here with us! :-( (Glad to hear you got your job Jess!)

Sunday June 10 8:30 (AM)

We got to South Dakota last night around 10... the scenery around here is incredible! We stopped by a river surrounded by these awesome hills, but our camera was still packed... Scott got some awesome pictures though. The hotel is very nice. Today really does not feel like Sunday, and I really realy don't like it. there is no church here in Winner ~ Where the West Begins~ a.k.a. Where Nowhere begins... So we will be having a service of our own up in the biggest suite, which is also the room I'm staying in. Scott is going to be speaking for us so I'm praying for him. It still doesn't feel quite right to be out here in my shorts and T-shirt though... and I'm really really gonn amiss my Dad's preaching. Not to mention I seriouisly doubt we're gonna have chicken soup for lunch! :-D But God is here without these people, and He's in my heart, and I guess I can have Sunday without chiken soup. :-)
It's Jacobs 16 birthday today... I really hope it's a special day for him! We are gonna do our part though... Yesterday on "the sly" or the not-quite-so-sly we bought him a cake and a helium balloon and some pop and stuff so we're gonna throw a little party.

11:22 pm
today went well. Everyone went out for lunch so that's a bit awkward, but they were all ok with Liz Jay and I staing at the hotel and the Williams stayed with us. Scott's "sermon" was really good. We sat around and jammed for awhil so that was cool... some people here are really really talented! I'm looking forward to tomorrow, finding out what it's all gonna be like. We had a pretty awesome lightning display... what an awesome God.

Monday June 11 10:30 pm

Today was good... we went to the resercation for the first time. It wasn't quite a normal day there because the kids were checking and styff so ti wasn't the regular schedule, plus I went shopping for groceries and stuff. There weren't a lot of kids, which typical for a first day. So I didn't have a group... I'm supposed to be the leader of a small group of like 3-4 year-olds.
I guess I should give a bit of an overview of our schedule. 9:00 we have team meeting which are prayer and worship times as well as updates. I really love the prayer times we have together. Then we split up in to devotional small group, I'm in Andrew's group and so far it's been really good. The after that is pretty much whatever needs to get done before we go, then lunch, then we go. Like I said, we haven't getten into our schedule there yet, but the idea is skits, games, message, small group time, then prayer, craft and snack time. Everything is really well organized. After that the team has supper at the communtiy center and then goes and hangs out with the kids. We come home around 9 and then hang out and maybe go for ice cream or something. Thing sare really well planned and structured, I can tell they've done this a lot of time before. There are a lot of rules, but they are reasonable, and really help keep things together. I'm really tired but there's like 2 people ahead of me for the shower so it will be awhile... that's what happens when you have 9 girls in the same room. :-P We did some more jamming too.. I really wish I'd brought my violin because then I could actually play something... I am learning some more guitar though. I don't know how I'm gonna survive 2 week without the piano... I miss it so much!

Well that's all I have right now.. congratulations if you actually read the whole thing!! :-)

Hope everyone's doing great out there... I miss you all and please keep praying for us here and for the kids at Okreek. We are doing an awesome thing there.

Love you all!

Heidi <><

The Spanish Brothers:

Announcing... THE SPANISH BROTHERS!
Drama...


Adventure!

Romance...



Come join us for a peek into the lives of 15th century Spaniards...




Witness the journey of two brothers and the lives they come in contact with, as they are forced to choose between Roman Catholicism, and Christianity... the cost of which is pain,

Torture and imprisonment,

And for many, ultimately Death.

Ok, so these pictures aren't from the actual play, and the play is kind of over already, but it gives you a little taste of it... and I think Janelle got some of the real thing which she will hopefully post.

AOC

Ok.... after an incredible weekend I'm back to normal life again... blegch.

I posted all my pics on this link so anyone who want to can see them and like 600 more...

http://allontariochoir2007.blogspot.com/

Unfortunatly I didn't get any of my group... go lime green! And our devos were awesome.... everything was awesome! It was just so incredible to meet like 90 people you didn't know at all, and just feel this bond between you all, because you're all Christian, homeschooled, and musical! Though after hearing some of those people I didn't feel very musical... lol

Anyway... you can check that out... and comment here. :-)

Ben's Party!

Hey!
Ben's 17th party was this past saturday... Awesome day! Here's him with his crybaby and kutless book we got him, once I finally got a picture that actually had his face on it... grrrr


The weather was amazing! We played volleyball for awhile after we got there, and then went on a hike, which I didn't get any pics of. It was great, except for all the swampy areas... and my feet (as well as some others I think) got kind of cut, not to mention filthy... :-)



The next few pictures speak for themselves... wow. Awesome job Mrs. Schouwstra!!












For some reason all the guys decided to do some push-ups for the benefit of all us girls... hehe
Except Ben it seems... lol


More volleyball after supper... exciting games eh?

Hmmm... I wonder what that yellow object flying through the air might be...

The awesome picture I got of Andrew's jump-overhand... (or is there a better name for it??)

And of course... tackle football!!!!!!
"Who's idea was this anyway?? probably that guy in the red shirt with diesel on it."

Need I say anymore? :-) Awesome times...

Ok everybody, here is the official proof that scuba diving on dry land is the latest fad...




At least for some species... :-)



Check out his goggles...



Some animals actually do scuba dive...

some of you have seen this but I thought it was pretty funny

Ways to Maintain A Healthy Level Of Insanity:
1. At Lunch Time, Sit In Your Parked Car With Sunglasses on and point a Hair Dryer At Passing Cars. See If They Slow Down.
2. Page Yourself Over The Intercom. Don't Disguise Your Voice.
3. Every Time Someone Asks You To Do Something, Ask If They Want Fries with that.
4. Put Your Garbage Can On Your Desk And Label It "In."
5. Put Decaf In The Coffee Maker For 3 Weeks. Once Everyone Has Gotten Over Their Caffeine Addictions, Switch to Espresso.
6. In The Memo Field Of All Your Checks, Write "For Smuggling Diamonds"
7. Finish All Your sentences with "In Accordance With The Prophecy."
8. Don't use any punctuation
9. As Often As Possible, Skip Rather Than Walk.
10. Order a Diet Water whenever you go out to eat, with a serious face.
11. Specify That Your Drive-through Order Is "To Go."
12. Sing Along At The Opera.
13. Go To A Poetry Recital And Ask Why The Poems Don't Rhyme?
14. Put Mosquito Netting Around Your Work Area And Play Tropical Sounds All Day.
15. Five Days In Advance, Tell Your Friends You Can't Attend Their Party Because You're Not In The Mood.
16. Have Your Co-workers Address You By Your Wrestling Name, Rock Bottom.
17. When The Money Comes Out The ATM, Scream "I Won!, I Won!"
18. When Leaving The Zoo, Start Running Towards The Parking
lot, Yelling "Run For Your Lives, They're Loose!!"
19. Tell Your Children Over Dinner, "Due To The Economy, We
Are Going To Have To Let One Of You Go."
20. And The Final Way To Keep A Healthy Level Of
Insanity.......Send This E-mail To Someone To Make Them Smile

---

A thought...

Here I am
on the shore
write my name
in the sand
make my mark
on this world
that will forever stand

The tide comes in
wave by wave
grain by grain
it's all erased

and there's nothing left to see
because what I used to be
was written in the sand.

One hundred people came before
to write their stories here
to make a footprint on the shore
and leave a legacy

but as the sands of time
go shifting by
they are one
by one
Forgotten

Weekend!

Alright, I have been requested to post on this past weekend, so I'll try and do it without being too long and boring...
Friday night we hung out and James and Justin's place, went quadding, (!!!!!) watched an old western movie, until Melissa came and picked us up. I won't say too much about that night except that it's amazing what you can talk about when hyper/tired! I learned some pretty good lessons that weekend, like the fact that Janelle kicks with her legs, "your eye is hitting my hair" not to mention all kinds of amazing noises... lol
Saturday Justin James and Marie came over and we hung out and jammed together, went GTing/snowball fighting and then walked into town for a very late lunch/snack... hopefully someone will post pictures of the food cuz it was amazing! And Melissa, you really shouldn't belch in public like that... :-D
Pizza that night was really good... especially Melissa's piece eh Melissa? :-D It was homemade and me and James and Melissa stuck bananas in one piece... for Janelle. :-) But I guess cheese whiz and bananas is just too much eh James? :-D After that we watched POTC2, which for em was quite a dissapointment, cuz I really liked the first one... it was ok though. Sunday my family was at Melissa's place too cuz my Dad was preaching, and Albert came, and we pretty much just sat around in between services, unless I'm forgetting something, and then after second service James and Justin and Amanda came and we jammed some more and then went outside for a campfire! After which I watched a game of pool, then we all went to bed. We woke up the next morning at the insane hour of 5:15 and had an interesting time waking Mark and Albert up... my brother sleeps pretty soundly I must say! :-D and then we drove down to snow valley for the last (*tear*) snowboarding of the season.
It was a totally awesome day, the only bad thing being the fact that everyone seemed to be killing themselves... it was actually pretty amusing how we all fell, then rented helmets... and fell again! I did a pretty nasty one, it's very weird feeling looking up and seeing your board kind of over your head and thinking "I hope I don't break anything!" I pulled a ligament or something in my leg, but otherwise it was ok. And I was very glad for my helmet as I totally smoked the back of the head at the end of the day... So needless to say I'm a bit of an old lady right now! James and Justin also had some pretty nasty falls, I didn't see either of them but I saw James right afterward...hope your ankle feels better and I'm glad your competition wasn't today after all! :-D
Now unfortunatly I have to go back to real life, after having all my family over for the week before that... check out my facebook for some pictures.

Anyway, that's about all I have to say, thanks so much guys for an amazing weekend and being amazing friends!

yes I'm alive!

Hey everybody, sorry it's been so long, our computer went screwy and I've been really busy.
Since it's been so long I'll just give you guys a bunch of blurbs that sum up my life in the past few weeks.

> Blue mountain was incredible awesome and 100 times better than last year! :-P I was planning to use Yvonne's blades, but then Miriam found out how insanely expensive it is to rent blades there so she rented a board and I used it! The first lift up I was totally freaking out, I was so scared! (It was my second time ever going) Thankfully after a few runs I was really glad I did it and had an awesome day other than it being so freezing cold! Minus 30 with the windchill! But it was great, and the night before was great too, jamming with Janelle Miriam and James, then hanging out by the train and having a snowball fight... and another rather unpleasant incident that will remain private. :-)

> Janelle you throw an awesome party! :-) Highlights would be... walking under the stars and again the next morning, throwing snowballs... :-) Creaming all the guys in capture the flag, "Skating" and I think my favorite part was after we walked and everyone went inside to finish the movie except me Miriam Janelle James Ben and Jon stayed out and James relit the fire (and melted his snowpants... whoops! :-) and talked out there til like midnight! Good times...

> Yesterday was snow valley and was awesomely incredibly amazingly great! (enough adjectives do you think?? :-) I completed my goals of turning on a double black diamond without wiping out and hitting and landing some jumps, and was pretty proud of myself until I saw my little bro who went or his first time ever doing an indy and snowboarding at least as good as I do on my third time... I must admit I'm pretty proud of him. :-) It's in the family man... lol
James and me rode switch down easy does it, that was pretty fun, except when it gets slow you start wiping out a lot... but it's worth it. :-)

> Last night we went to Timmy's since Catechism was cancelled and that was pretty awesome lol I won't say any more about it cuz Janelle is gonna post on it. :-D Oh and Janelle and I landed an awesome 360 in the parking lot! hehe perfect end to the day.

>I am very happy right now because I spilt a cup of water on my laptop last week, and I thought for sure it was totalled... don't laugh it was horrible. But this morning my Dad brought it in my room and it's working and I didn't lose anything! w00t!!! And the advantage of the whole thing was I did it right before I was supposed to give a 2 minute speech for drama so I had a good excuse not to! :-) Unfortunatly I have to do it this week. But still.

Anyway, I'll stop talking now and you guys are officially updated! Comment! :-)

Here's a new post for you guys

snow valley!

Ok, I have been requested to write a post on yesterday!
Well first off, IT WAS AMAZING!!!! I learned how to snowboard and I love it!
It was so good to go after three times being cancelled and *ahem* excuse me while I brag for a minute... I got my blue stripe on my first time ever! And I'm really proud of myself. However, I also wiped out several hundred times... and I'm so sore today that only things it doesn't hurt to do is smile and wiggle my fingers and toes. :-) But it was totally worth it.
Unfortunatly I didn't get to see you guys much in the terrain park, which I was looking forward to, but I saw you a bit and I was very impressed. I would've liked to hang with you Janelle and Melissa but I really didn't mind cuz I had an awesome day so don't feel bad! Oh and thanks Tim for finding my hat back. :-)
I found out I can go to blue mountain! w00t! Looking forward to that!!
Oh, you know something kind of amusing? I had lip balm in my pocket, and one time I was going down family I saw this thing on the ground and as I passed I'm like "hey that looks like my lip balm!" Sure enough, it was out of my pocket... but by that time I was passed it so I pretty much gave up on ever seeing it again, which actually wasn't that heartbreaking, cuz hey, it's lip balm. Anyway, on my very last run of the entire day, I was again going down Family, for like the gazillionth time that day, and I again passed something... you guessed it! My lip balm! So I went back a little ways and picked it up just for fun. :-) I just found that kind of amusing... but I am in a mood where I am finding a lot of things kind of amusing so maybe it is maybe it isn't.
Oh, I was looking back over old posts today, and I noticed that my post used to all average like 45 comments each... hmm.... something happened there... :-) (HINT HINT)
And that's all I have to say so have a good one!

Here's something to amuse you...

Don't worry little bro, I still love you. :-)

Only one more day!

that's right! soon I'll actually be a human instead of some kind of lifesaving fish or something!!

in the last 4 days I have spent 17 hours in the pool, and I feel like a prune.

but I'm honestly having a lot of fun, it's really interesting, and I pretty much like all the people I'm with... the instructor is ok.

but I got my bronze med!! Oh yeah!! Now I have til tomorrow night to finish my Bronze cross and then I'm done!

well that's the update on my life, now I think I'm going to bed.

:-)

a little new years blurb.

Hey guys, Happy new year to you all, and a big thank you for all the fun times and memories we've shared over this past year. It's awesome to have you guys to grow up with, and I am honored to be your friend.

Sharing the journey...

Heidi

funny

Merry Christmas!

I was just thinking, we have pretty much a 100% advantage over everyone else right now... They have Santa, we have HOPE!!!

Oh, and btw, did you guys know that 'Merry' in the original whatever it is actually means 'strong?'

A lady was talking about it on the radio... said 'God rest ye merry, gentlemen' actually means 'God make you strong, gentlemen'

Interesting...

So have a Strong Christmas and talk to you all later!

Heidi

Good story

The Tablecloth
The brand new pastor and his wife, newly assigned to their first ministry, to reopen a church in suburban Brooklyn, arrived in early October excited about their opportunities. When they saw their church,it was very run down and needed much work. They set a goal to have everything done in time to have their first service on Christmas Eve. They worked hard, repairing pews, plastering walls, painting, etc. and on Dec 18 were ahead of schedule and just about finished. On Dec 19 a terrible tempest - a driving rainstorm hit the area and lasted for two days. On the 21st, the pastor went over to the church. His heart sank when he saw that the roof had leaked, causing a large area of plaster about 20 feet by 8 feet to fall off the front wall of the sanctuary just behind the pulpit, beginning about head high. The pastor cleaned up the mess on the floor, and not knowing what else to do but postpone the Christmas Eve service, headed home. On the way he noticed that a local business was having a flea market type sale for charity so he stopped in. One of the items was a beautiful, handmade, ivory colored, crocheted tablecloth with exquisite work, fine colors and a Cross embroidered right in the center. It was just the right size to cover up the hole in the front wall. He bought it and headed back to the church. By this time it had started to snow. An older woman running from the opposite direction was trying to catch the bus. She missed it.The pastor invited her to wait in the warm church for the next bus 45 minutes later. She sat in a pew and paid no attention to the pastor while he got a ladder, hangers, etc., to put up the tablecloth as a wall tapestry. The pastor could hardly believe how beautiful it looked and it covered up the entire problem area. Then he noticed the woman walking down the center aisle. Her face was like a sheet. "Pastor," she asked, "where did you get that tablecloth?" The pastor explained. The woman asked him to check the lower right corner to see if the initials, EBG were crocheted into it there. They were. These were the initials of the woman, and she had made this tablecloth 35 years before, in Austria. The woman could hardly believe it as the pastor told how he had just gotten the Tablecloth. The woman explained that before the war she and her husband were well-to-do people in Austria. When the Nazis came, she was forced to leave. Her husband was going to follow her the next week. She was captured, sent to prison and never saw her husband or her home again. The pastor wanted to give her the tablecloth; but she made the pastor keep it for the church. The pastor insisted on driving her home, that was the least he could do. She lived on the other side of Staten Island and was only in Brooklyn for the day for a housecleaning job.
What a wonderful service they had on Christmas Eve. The church was almost full. The music and the spirit were great. At the end of the service, the pastor and his wife greeted everyone at the door and many said that they would return. One older man, whom the pastor recognized from the neighborhood, continued to sit in one of the pews and stare, and the pastor wondered why he wasn't leaving. The man asked him where he got the tablecloth on the front wall because it was identical to one that his wife had made years ago when they lived in Austria before the war and how could there be two tablecloths so much alike? He told the pastor how the Nazis came, how he forced his wife to flee for her safety, and he was supposed to follow her, but he was arrested and put in a prison. He never saw his wife or his home again all the 35 years in between.
The pastor asked him if he would allow him to take him for little ride. They drove to Staten Island and to the same house where the pastor had taken the woman three days earlier. He helped the man climb the three flights of stairs to the woman's apartment, knocked on the door and he saw the greatest Christmas reunion he could ever imagine.

here's a thought...

Qweshton 4 u

Does anyone know why the Christmas colours are Red Green and White?

First guess, then you can try and find out the real answer.

No cheating!

P.S. I have nooo idea...

Ok, I'll do it too.

What a waste of time... however it's a rather amusing waste of time so hey. And I have time to waste.

Heidi Needs. (According to google)

Heidi needs...to understand that the majority of people in that state DO NOT agree ...Ahem...

Heidi needs her own site. Filed under: in brief, grilled cheese @ 13:16. Well I was looking for a new blog name...

Heidi needed someone to love her and accepted this kind of treatment because she was so desperately trying to fill her unmet emotional needs. ...Oh really.

"Heidi needs to pay $5 so that all the answers to this question can be shown." ...

Heidi needs to go to school in the winter. ...

Heidi needs a drink. No actually, I just had some oj. :-)

Heidi needs to examine every aspect of her marriage, her own attitude to ... Do I need to say anything?

Heidi needs to get a life. Yeah, sometimes... but this month is actually booked solid. So...

Heidi needs to know that there is no correlation between the degree of freedom within a society and its actions in external affairs. ... I consider myself enlightened.

Well folks I hope you were midlessly amused for a little, while, and have a wonderful day.

It's that time of the year!

This post is dedicated to snow.

Ok here is a bit of a post to keep you guys content until I get around to one.

Calvin and Hobbes, oh yeah!

http://www.angelfire.com/wa/zzaran/calvin.html

Memorial Day

IN FLANDERS FIELDS the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Thoughts.

Hey all I'm just going to write a couple of random things that I know you will be simply enthralled with.

I got out of work 1 1/2 hours early today!

I broke my first-er-ONE AND ONLY glass at work today with the mop handle!

Squash pie tastes totally awesome.

I have no idea how I am gonna get my room clean before you all come over tomorrow.

Quote of the week by my amazing little bro Kenneth Daniel: If I get to be a Dad before he (Josh) does, then if we play horse I will sit on him and squish him! lol lol lol

Oh, and Question of the day by my incredibly intellectual little bro Mark William: Does spit rot?

Take a guess why he asked this question.

For those of you who are still going to the royal winter fair, check out the electric carpet!

For those of you who already went, you know what I mean. :-)

For those of you who haven't gone and aren't going... too bad.

It has now been officially proven that washing dishes numbs your brain.

I am almost finished talking.

Bye!

I am finished talking.

first day of work and other ramblings

Hello everybody just thought I'd tell you about my first day since I need a new post anyway.
For those of you who don't know, I started dishwashing at a fancy resteraunt in townon wednesday night.
Yes, that's right me, dishwashing. And a hundred other things.
And no, I did not break a single one out of the 6,000,000 or so that I had to do. :-)
And if that's not stunning enough, I also ran up and down stairs for the guy to get him food a ton of times and I did not fall down them at all!!
Yes, this is Heidi talking.
Besides doing dishes I also had to clean the outside of 4 fridges/freezers the looked like they hand't been cleaned in years, and then the bottom of this smaller fridge that smelt like rotten fish and had seriously a layer of slime on the bottom. Like an inch thick. I couldn't wipe it all up cuz it kept spilling on the floor so I ended up using a mop. :-S :-$
I couldn't help but wonder if it was some kind of initiation thing, becuase there is no way everyone could be doing that much work, cuz everything was so gross!
It wasn't like a gross environment though, just those things upstairs that I had to do and those fridges and another shelf that I had to do that was like coated in crumbs and crud andwho knows what all.
Anyway, I think I'm getting a little too detailed here maybe?
So I got home, crashed, and dreampt about... guess what? DISHES!!! Man if they paid you for washing dishes in your sleep I would have made a million bucks. Like seriously, I was waking up and thinking "noooo... I'm done the dishes!!"
So that's the end of it and my legs are finally starting to stop (lol that sounds weird) hurting.
Right now I am at my Uncle Ralph and Aunt Sharon's babysitting their kids so they can go out for supper. They are sooooo cute! It runs in the family, lol not.
So now that I'm finished blabbering, if any of you want to catch me up on your lives...
ttyl!

Evil??? (don't ask me why I'm posting this)

See that gleam in his eye?
He looks so innocent... but he's gonna take over the world.

It seems like everyone is posting on snow right now...

So I guess I don't need to.

A Post

Hello all, I am very bored right now, so I am gonna post, though I really have nothing to post about.
Here's a list of the things I should be doing....
Cleaning my room
Steam cleaning my chair
Finishing my science
Dusting
Vacuuming
Here is a list of the things I feel like doing:
Seeing you
Snowboarding/skiing
Having Christmas
Eating chocolate
Swimming
Since all of the top list is uninteresting, and unimportant in my mind, and all of the bottom list is impossible, I will just have to be content to sit here and blab at you. I could write some emails, but it's easier to get everyone at once. :-)
I could think of something intellectual and inspring to say, but coming from me, you'd probably laugh.
And now Mom is saying I should get off soon, so thus ends THE LAMEST POST IN BLOGGING HISTORY!!!

(Comments, anyone?) :-)

here's a kinda corny poem that I had fun with

In control

I am the American dream
"I can do it" Is my theme
Pardon me? What's that?
oh. Sure God, I'll believe you
but, well, just don't think I need you
Sure I'll go to church
sometime anyway... but first
let me check my schedule
because you see God
I am in control.
So now You can go.

If this is the school of hard knocks,
then I'm sure full of bruises
my dream just can't make up
for all the time it loses
But though sticks and stones
will break my bones
I'll still make it on my own
cuz whatever happened
to my schedule... (??)
I'm still in control--
whoa! (honk)
watch it lady!

Ok, so maybe not.

Maybe being on my own
is more like being all alone
maybe this whole "dream"
is not as hot
as I first thought
and maybe...
I don't want to be in control.
So are You there God?
Or did you go?


Honest opinions please people... (no offense will be taken) and do you think it needs another verse?

yeah, two posts in one evening is crazy.. but this cracked me up.

It's like really accurate too!

Your Hair Should Be Orange

Expressive, deep, and one of a kind. You pull off "weird" well - hardly anyone notices.

What's Your Funky Inner Hair Color?

that quiz

1. ONE OF YOUR SCARS, HOW DID YOU GET IT? umm... on my forehead from falling off a bunkbead in the middle of the night when I was like 3... that was SO scary... :-)

2. WHAT IS ON THE WALLS IN YOUR ROOM? Most of my pictures, finally... two weeks after I redid my room... and I even screwed those cap thingy's on the outlets! :-) did you know that it you stare at an outlet for too long it looks like it's making faces at you? :-)

3. WHAT DOES YOUR CELL PHONE LOOK LIKE? What cellphone?

4. WHAT MUSIC DO YOU LIKE TO LISTEN TO? This question is in every single quiz... Christian

5. DO YOU KNOW WHAT TIME YOU WERE BORN? Yep, 10:34

6. WHAT DO YOU WANT MORE THAN ANYTHING RIGHT NOW? I dunno... maybe to get an email, lol And to see my extended family... oh yeah, and you guys. :-)

7. WHAT DO YOU MISS AT TIMES? Being a kid who's world is about as big as wherever they are at that moment, and who's focus is whatever seems like the most fun.

8. WHAT IS YOUR MOST PRIZED POSSESSION? My brain

9. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SMELL? The smell of spring, the smell of fall, and the smell of gas. :-)

10. DO YOU GET CLAUSTROPHOBIC? Sometimes, like in those crowded Jewlerry/porcelain stores where I literally have to keep my elbows glued to my side... there is nothing worse than bumping one of those displays and watching everything go rattle rattle... AAAH GET ME OUTA HERE :-)

11. IF YOU DIED TOMORROW:I would go to heaven!

12. THE LAST PERSON TO MAKE YOU CRY?As if the whole world needs to know that.

13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE COLOGNE / PERFUME? The kind that smells good... or smells lie people you know and love... like Oma

14. WHAT KIND OF HAIR DO YOU LIKE ON THE OPPOSITE SEX? um, not to neat, not to messy, not too long, not too short... just perfect. lol

15. WHERE CAN YOU SEE YOURSELF BEING PROPOSED TO AT?
Hey wait a minute, who says I'm getting married? I might want to be a "career woman" you know, or maybe even, (dare I say it?) an old maid! :-) :-)

16. WHAT COLLEGE DID/DO YOU GO TO?Well I haven't gone to college, neither am I in college, so this question really does not apply to me. However, I want to go to music college.

17. WHERE CAN YOU SEE YOURSELF GOING FOR YOUR HONEYMOON?
Australia, definetly. Whether I marry or not, lol Actually that was on the news the other day, about someone who got "jilted" right before her wedding and had it anyway, and then went on her honeymoon with her Mom! Like how romantic! :-)

18. WHO IS THE LAST PERSON YOU MADE MAD? My brother. He said he hadn't had a shower for like four days, so I gave him one, with the sink sprayer. Unfortunatley Mom made me clean the kitchen for him, but it was pretty much worth it.

19. DO YOU SPEAK A DIFFERENT LANGUAGE? Jaberwocky. Very fluently.

20. WHAT WAS THE FIRST GIFT SOMEONE EVER GAVE YOU (OF THE OPPOSITE SEX)?
Good grief... well the first one I can remember is my "grandpa" Dewaard, who died a couple years ago, gave Liz and I the cutest little rocking doll cribs that he made himself... He was an amazing man.

21. FAVORITE BAND(s) Casting Crowns

30. SAY A NUMBER FROM ONE TO A HUNDRED: 74.3333333

31. BLONDES, REDHEADS OR BRUNETTES? Redheads... I always wished I had red hair.

32. WHAT IS THE ONE NUMBER YOU CALL OFTEN? Miriam

33. WHAT ANNOYS YOU MOST? People who whine...

34. HAVE YOU EVER DONE A PRANK CALL? Yeah kinda but it was just Jay and I totally cracked up... I don't even know if you could call it a prank call though... it's a long story

35. WHO IS YOUR CURRENT CRUSH?
Excuse me, but aren't we making a bit of an assumption here?

36. DO YOU EVEN HAVE A CRUSH?
Aaah, that's better. Wouldn't you like to know?

37: HAVE YOU EVER SAID "I LOVE YOU" AND NOT MEANT IT? Nope, I love you is way too huge for that.

38: WHAT ARE YOU DOING WHILE YOU FILLED OUT THIS SURVEY? Good grief, I'm not a multi tasker! lol What could you do at the same time? Except maybe pick your nose... lol

39. IF YOU COULD GET PLASTIC SURGERY, WHAT WOULD IT BE? Actually, it's cheaper just to get a halloween mask at the dollar store... and it looks about the same.

40.WHY DID YOU FILL OUT THIS SURVEY? Because I felt like posting something

41. WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF ALCOHOL BECAME ILLEGAL? Man, I guess I'd have to stop drinking...

42. WHAT DO YOU WANT FOR YOUR BIRTHDAY? Um, A million dollars.

43. WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF IT SUDDENLY STARTED RAINING BLOOD? Go inside

44. WHAT WAS THE FUNNIEST THING YOU SAW THIS WEEK? Scott :-)

45. WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE ANIMAL? A horse

46. EVER BROKEN A BONE?
I think I broke my toe at one point

47. EVER SKYDIVED?
Nope...

48. HOW MANY TIMES DID YOU FAIL YOUR LICENSE?
This question is on every quiz too... never, yet

49. WHAT DO YOU LOVE DOING?
Being weird. Especially with Scott. :-) man I hope he's not reading this quiz...

50. WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO NOW?
Click "Publish Post"

Goodnight Ya'll!

Habby birthday to meee

This blog is officially 1 year old yesterday!

wh00t!

now here's my wish list... lol

updating...

hey everybody!
sorry I haven't been doing much emailing/posting lately... to give you a bit of an update on my life, here's what I've done in the past two weeks + two days:
Camping for the long weekend with my family, going overnight to fairglen, painting my room, overnight family conference, mandarin and afternoon and vv's with all my awesome cousins from out west who had the nerve to leave today... :-( St. Jacob's market with almost all the Luimes girls/ladies, a big birthday party for Liz, Mom, Oma, Andrew, other Andrew, Scott, Aunt Rachel... the list goes on... :-) it was mainly for Mom and Liz. Then today was a hike with our girls/boys club.
And next week I'm finally starting school, and then I'll be totally bored. :-)

um... nothing

Hey everybody just letting you know I am alive and would love some comments! :-)

I will try and post something interesting that you actually want to comment on at some point in time, but for now, I'd just love to hear from you all!

You can email too... all of you except for Melissa and Janelle... who I will reply to as soon as possible. :-) :-)

My life is busy right now... we haven't even started school yet! aaahh.... But it's all fun, so hey.

only one-(by me)

Sitting on the swing

starry summer night

listening to the wind

and watching cars go by

A million people

a million souls

no possible hope

of ever knowing them all

So what's the point

Why even try

There is no way

I could touch that many lives

But just one, only one

would be enough to leave a legacy.

If just one, only one

could be called back to God

through me

then that one could share

and touch a few more

until The story has spread

from shore to shore

To those million people

in all of those cars

passing by

as I sit on the swing

under the stars

Alright, I'm finally posting some pics from the cottage!--here's the whole Brink clan

The first weekend nobody was there but us, so on saturday night we went to an old car show in town. It was pretty interesting! (and they had free food, lol)

On Sunday Aunt Elsa and Uncle Art's family came up for the day, since they just happened to be camping nearby at the same time. I am just posting this picture because Jay looks really good in it, which is big for him. :-) My apologies to Aunt Elsa, who doesn't. :-)

Here is Josh, just chilling-- one of the most popular events of the week. Isn't he cute? -though his eyes look a bit evil there... :-)

This is uncle Ralph, and Daniel, my birthday cousin, (just had to say that) is on his back. This is actually an improved method of tranportation... a few minutes earlier he was holding him on his back with one hand! Of course the crazy little kid loved it...

Kenny and me building a tower... Look at those muscles!! :-)

Me'n the kids built a sandcastle... which proved to be great fun the rake at the end of the week. :-$ There's a good view of the lake on this one...

Surfer dudes... got to love their expressions eh?

We went to an old abandoned mine while we were there... it was pretty cool! I hacked a pretty big piece of quartz out of the rock... and then lost it. :-)

Here's a couple pics of Liz.. which she doesn't like, but I think she looks cute.



Mark and I climbed up the side... it was harder than it looks cuz it was all wet and slippery.

Mark was freaking out the whole way down... :-) I just jumped. It's harder to kill yourself jumping then slipping right?? :-) Anyway that's all I'm gonna post... Liz will probably do more.