If anyone still comes here.....

Hello Friends! :).......if you still check this after i am so neglectful of it!

I am ready to go to Kenya!!!! I keep meeting people who have been there, literally i think 5 people in the last month and a half i have randomly met that have travelled or lived in Kenya in the past six months. It just gets me so excited and feels like such a confirmation of what i am doing. Plus I now know i have to psyche myself up to eat lots of eggs.....!

I am just wanting to let you all know that i probably wont be updating this blog while I am in Africa, but i will send out mass emails, so if you want to be on that list let me know. And we have a team blog that will be updated that will probably have our personal thoughts on it sometimes too....the address for that blog is: www.mkwachunyiproject.blogspot.com. So check it out!!

Until sometime....;)

Very Acute Hearing

I just got told by my mechanic that i was paranoid. I hear clicking somewhere in my car when i turn, but of course when i took it for a drive with him......nothing, notta, zero, zipperonie. So of course now its all in my head. Oh boy! but the thing is i want to sell my little pepe and i want it to be in tip top shape. So we'll see, if i still 'hear' it, i'll go back and make him listen a little harder! ;)

haha...did you think this was pepe? I wish!! nope this is my friend Spencers car that he made...yes made! I just thought i should have a car picture in here to go with my car story...nice car though eh?

The British....

So we arrived in London on July 2...the day after a number of bomb threats right around our hostel area! no worries, we are now gone and didnt explode! Some things ive learned since coming to britian:

1. black men do not have white hands
2. roads that appear to be one way can really fit two cars
3. dont stop on a sidewalk in london during "coming home from work time" you will get run over by people
4. its ok to touch peoples bums if its rush hour on the underground tube in London
5. when people say they dont have ketchup, they really dont have ketchup
6. distance scales on maps will not accurately tell you how long it will take to get somwhere.
7. welsh fathers will try to set you up with their sons
8. when cops stop you they may let you off because you aren't from "around here" :)

so far, its been fun!!!

Toscana - Tuscany

Tuscany....To me it brought images of villas, cobbled streets,little old ladies, and good wine! I must say i was not dissapointed!!!

Florence (above) was a busy town! We waited three hours in line to see Michaelangelos David, and decided that was going to be our art experience of Italy. It was magnificent! We could have probably spent weeks in florence and gone to a different museum or gallery every day, but alas....why???
After Florence was pisa...and yes as you can see i posed for the cheesy holding up the tower picture! ha! we hopped off, saw the tower and hopped back on the train here!
Typical tuscan doorway..i love it! doesnt it just make you wonder whats inside??
HAHA..we hired a scooter for the day today and zipped around the tuscan countryside. Only one near death crash....no truly i did make us fall over as i was trying to make a u-turn, and we broke off the foot rest..hehe..good thing they dont inspect to closely on return!
Wine countryWe met this lady because we drove up a tiny gravel road trying to find a winery! We asked her (in our halted italian) if she had wine to taste. She led us into a cellar building where there were two barrels and gave me some in a kitchen cup! It was pretty good. we asked if she had bottles and she proceeded to take an empty bottle from a bucket a pour out some old drops of wine from the bottom, then wash it out in a barrel in the back. This is when we saw the cockraoch crawling on the floor and thought hmmm...maybe i dont want wine from this little old italian lady! She was so nice though so we had to gt a picture!This is san gigmignano or whats called midevil dysneyland! it was cool, lots of towers and had great views on the countryside. Besides the bigger cities like florence, pisa, sienna, Tuscany is dotted with these villages that have become tourist meccas, and then there are private villas you see around as well amoung the fields! all is so beautiful! It is our last night here tonight and tomorow we head to the chinque terre for a hike, and then on to the Italian riviera! Will i ever want to go back to real life???

A few pics from my travels...

This is on top of the Duomo (huge cathedral) in Milan...so many spires and gargoyles!
Milan means shopping!! We went into one of the stores and got looked up and down then followed around like we were thieves!!! yes they could tell we were not in our normal territory...haha
Venice!!!! i loved venice....
This is positano...we had a fabulous meal here and went on a boat tour along the entire amalfi coast with many towns like this one! we stayed in one about 30 mminutes from here that looked similar! lots of walking up and down the streets!!
The colloseum...need i say more? so amazing! huge too, as most of the buildings in rome were! well, there will be more to come, but this is a taste for now! Ciao!!

Buanjourno from Rome!!!

hello my friends! I sit hear sweating....yes sitting and sweating is a common occurance here in Italy...in fact i havent quit sweating since i got here! :) im a little pink as well......seems my spf 45 isnt strong enough!! sorry this will be short, but we are off to see one more sight in rome and then need to catch a train to tuscany where we will be spending four glorious days seing the countryside...and maybe trying out the local "juice" ;) I am loving italy so much....the people, the language, the scenery...it has all exceeded my expectations! God has been an amazing shelter to us as well! There have definitely been some times we have been in dodgy situations..like an overnight train in the same cabin with crazies, or getting lost in Rome at 2 in the morning, or not knowing where to go in the prostitute area of milan!!! yes God is with us!!! I havent tried putting pictures onto a computer yet....but i may, so keep checking for updates with some visions of italian countryside! love to all!!

long time no write.....

Is it possible to be allergic to OFF?? i guess it could be....as i sit here, my nose is plugged and i'm sneezing like crazy (which i kind like by the way) but i think it's becuase i doused myself with off at soccer tonight! I didn't think i was allergic to anything! So i've been seriously neglecting my blog since i started on facebook....but i want to keep it going, so i'm going to try to be more regular with it! I don't have much to say at the moment, but hello....if you are reading this, and i'd love to hear from you :)

today your life could change....

This is a story that got sent to me and i thought i'd share it....may it bring you peace.

"It was an unusually cold day for the month of May. Spring had arrived and everything was alive with color, but a cold front from the North had brought a rough winter's chill back to Indiana. I sat, with two friends, in the picture window of a quaint restaurant just off the corner of the towns-square. The food and the company were both especially good that day. As we talked, my attention was drawn outside, across the street. There, walking into town, was a man who appeared to be carrying all his worldly goods on his back. He was carrying, a well-worn sign that read, "I will work for food."My heart sank. I brought him to the attention of my friends and noticed that others around us had stopped eating to focus on him. Heads moved in a mixture of sadness and disbelief. We continued our meal, but his image lingered in my mind.We finished our meal and went our separate ways. I had errands to do and quickly set out to accomplish them. I glanced toward the town square, looking somewhat half-heartedly for the strange visitor. I was fearful, knowing that seeing him again would call for some response. I drove through town and saw nothing of him, then made some purchases at a store and got back in my car. Deep within me, the Spirit of God kept speaking to me: Don't go back to the office until you've at least driven once more around the square." And so, with some hesitancy, I headed back into town. As I turned the square's third corner. I saw him. He was standing on the steps of the storefront church, going through his sack. I stopped and looked, feeling both compelled to speak to him, yet wanting to drive on. The empty parking space on the corner seemed to be a sign from God: an invitation to park. I pulled in, got out and approached the town's newest visitor. "Looking for the pastor?" I asked. "Not really," he replied, "just resting." "Have you eaten today?" "Oh, I ate some-thing early this morning." "Would you like to have lunch with me?" "Do you have some work I could do for you?" "No work," I replied. "I commute here to work from the city, but I would like to take you to lunch." "Sure," he replied with a smile. As he began to gather his things, I asked some surface questions."Where you headed?" "St. Louis." "Where you from?" "Oh, all over; mostly Florida." "How long you been walking?""Fourteen years," came the reply.I knew I had met someone unusual. We sat across from each other in the same restaurant I had left earlier. His face was weathered slightly beyond his 38 years. His eyes were dark yet clear, and he spoke with an eloquence and articulation that was startling. He removed his jacket to reveal a bright red T-shirt that said, "Jesus is The Never Ending Story." Then Daniel's story began to unfold. He had seen rough times early in life, had made some wrong choices and reaped the consequences. Fourteen years earlier, while back-packing across the country, he had stopped on the beach in Daytona and tried to hire on with some men who were putting up a large tent and some equipment. A concert, he thought. He was hired, but the tent would not house a concert but revival services, and in those services he saw life more clearly. He gave his life over to God. "Nothing's been the same since," he said, "I felt the Lord telling me to keep walking, and so I did, some 14 years now." "Ever think of stopping?" I asked. "Oh, once in a while, when it seems to get the best of me, but God has given me this calling. I give out Bibles. That's what's in my sack. I work to buy food and Bibles, and I give them out when His Spirit leads me."I sat amazed. My homeless friend was not homeless. He was on a mission and lived this way by choice. The question burned inside for a moment and then I asked: "What's it like?"
"What?" "To walk into a town carrying all your things on your back and to show your sign?" "Oh, it was humiliating at first. People would stare and make comments. Once someone tossed a piece of half-eaten bread and made a gesture that certainly didn't make me feel welcome. But then it became humbling to realize that God was using me to touch lives and change people's concepts of other folks like me."My concept was changing, too. We finished our dessert and gathered his things. Just outside the door, he paused. He turned to me and said,"Come Ye blessed of my Father and inherit the kingdom I've prepared for you; for when I was hungry you gave me food, when I was thirsty you gave me drink, a stranger and you took me in."I felt as if we were on holy ground. "Could you use another Bible?" I asked. He said he preferred a certain translation. It traveled well and was not too heavy. It was also his personal favorite. "I've read through it 14 times," he said."I'm not sure we've got one of those, but let's stop by our church and see." I was able to find my new friend a Bible that would do well, and he seemed very grateful. "Where you headed from here?" "Well, I found this little map on the back of this amusement park coupon.""Are you hoping to hire on there for awhile?""No, I just figure I should go there. I figure someone under that star right there needs a Bible, that's where I'm going next." He smiled, and the warmth of his spirit radiated the sincerity of his mission.I drove him back to the town-square where we'd met two hours earlier, and as we drove, it started raining. We parked and unloaded his things. "Would you sign my autograph book?" he asked. "I like to keep messages from folks I meet." I wrote in his little book that his commitment to his calling had touched my life. I encouraged him to stay strong. And I left him with a verse of scripture from Jeremiah, "I know the plans I have for you," declared the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you a future and a hope.""Thanks, man," he said. "I know we just met and we're really just strangers, but I love you." "I know," I said, "I love you, too." "The Lord is good." "Yes, He is. How long has it been since someone hugged you?" I asked. "A long time," he replied. And so, on the busy street corner in the drizzling rain, my new friend and I embraced, and I felt deep inside that I had been changed. He put his things on his back, smiled his winning smile and said, "See you in the New Jerusalem." "I'll be there!" was my reply.He began his journey again, heading away with his sign dangling from his bed roll and pack of Bibles. He stopped, turned and said, "When you see something that makes you think of me, will you pray for me?" "You bet,"I shouted back, "God bless.""God bless." And that was the last I saw of him. Late that evening as I left my office, the wind blew strong. The cold front had settled hard upon the town. I bundled up and hurried to my car. As I sat back and reached for the emergency brake, I saw them... a pair of well worn work gloves neatly laid over the length of the handle. I picked them up and thought of my friend and wondered if his hands would stay warm that night without them.
I remembered his request:
"If you see something that makes you think of me, will you pray for me?"Today his gloves lie on my desk in my office. They help me to see the world and its people in new way, and they help me remember those two hours with my unique friend and to pray for his ministry."See you in the New Jerusalem," he said. Yes, Daniel, I know You will... "

Could We say what follows today........?

Today, when I woke up, I realized that this is the best day of my life, ever! There were times when I wondered if I would make it to today; but I have and because I have, I'm going to celebrate!
Today, I'm going to celebrate what an unbelievable life I have had so far: the accomplishments, the blessings, and even the hardships because they have served to make me stronger. I will go through this day with my head high, and a happy heart. I will marvel at God's seemingly simple gifts: the grass, the sun, the clouds, the trees, the flowers, the birds.
Today, none of these miraculous creations will escape my notice.
Today, I will share my excitement for life with other people. I'll make someone smile. I'll go out of my way to perform an unexpected act of kindness for someone I don't even know.
Today, I'll give a sincere compliment to someone who seems down. I'll tell a child how special they are. I'll tell someone I love, just how deeply I care for them and how much they mean to me.
Today is the day I quit worrying about what I don't have and start being grateful for all the wonderful things God has already given me. I'll remember that to worry is just a waste of time because my faith in God and his plan for me ensures everything will be just fine.
And tonight, before I go to bed, I'll go outside and look at the sky. I will stand in awe at the beauty of the stars and the moon, and I will praise God for these magnificent treasures. As the day ends and I lay my head down on my pillow, I will thank my Creator for the best day of my life and I will sleep the sleep of a contented child, excited with expectation because I know tomorrow is going to be the best day of my life, ever!

round two - the spirit of B.C.

See you again.....

being outside makes me happy

I was in B.C. this past week. Vancouver island to be more specific. Well, to get really detailed, we stayed in campbell river and tofino. From campbell river we took a ferry over to Quadra island for a day and did a hike up the chinese mountains. Why they are chinese i'm not sure....but the view is spectacular!
The flowers are blooming in B.C.!! oh sweet daffodills you are so yellow and pretty.
These trees amaze me every time, towers of greatness is what they are.
yay! we paddled! this we did in tofino instead of surfing...i felt much safer and dryer.
Ahhh the starfish. somehow being able to see these guys that should be under water is like seeing something mysterious to me. so unknown and different than land animals. are they even animals...no, they are crustaceans, no thats a shell fish right? are they anemones? no i dont think so....what are starfish anyway?

April fools! It was nice for a week!

I'm sad because its snowing again...
Yes Boooo to the snow!!

my petsmart boyfriend

I went to petsmart yesterday to buy a litterbox.....yes you know what this means....i'm expecting :) ...A cat that is. Probably just house sitting one for a while, but after that i know i will want my own, so i thought i would invest now. Anyway, i am walking thought petsmart and hear a whistle, like a whoo-whoo as if i'm getting whistled at! (did you hear it? how do you spell that kind of whistle??) So i look over and there is this great looking....parrot! I did the obvious thing, i said hello. He said hello right back and starting clucking and cooing and whistling some more....yeah thats right. Hey i'll take what i can get!

Viva Las Vegas!!!

I have never had such a whirlwind trip as this past weekend to Las Vegas! And by whirlwhind i mean whirlwind! Like 48 hours NO sleep whirlwind! So normally "what happens in vegas, stays in vegas" (as this truck with a screen-like billboard blared for everybody to remember) and i can see why this slogan is so popular. A lot could happen in vegas that wouldn't or shouldn't be shared....but not to me!! i want to tell you all about my trip! Our (Nicole and I) main purpose was to see Celine Dion in the colliseum at ceasars palace...and see Celine we did! I was never more proud to be a canadian (well not really) but she was AMAZING! Definitely worth the whirldwind! I didn't cry though....i was a little disappointed at that. After Celine we walked for 45 min. down to the very north end of the strip to this tower of crazy afraidness. Otherwise known as the stratosphere. On top of this tower are three rides that make you want to p*%p your pants. They basically fling you over the side of the tower or up higher than the top and suspend you in mid air over....well just air and vegas 400 thousand feet below you. Are you imagining the dirty pants yet??
After the scary tower we started walking back down the strip and went into every hotel we could just to look at them. They are amazing little resorts in and of themselves. This one for example (The Venitian) has a gondola outside it and INSIDE as well on this actual canal that they built down a mock venice street with shops and cafes and cobblestones! It took us from 2:00 am until around 7:30 am to walk the strip and see every hotel we wanted to! Thats just going in and looking!

Ahhh the cheesy Vegas marriage chapel....i'm definitely in...you?
And what would Vegas be without random drunk people?? We asked this guy and his buddies to take a picture and somehow he ended up in it and then his other friend took one too....so funny. We met so many people from places like Texas, L.A, Idaho, Iowa, Spain, Brazil, Australia, Arizona. Memorable people all of them...sadly i'm sure they dont remember us.
This is Sigfried and Roy's tiger. He lives at the Mirage hotel and gets to pace by his pool all day long. Possibly he wishes he had been the one to "taste" Roy. No no. We also saw lions at MGM and flamingo's at...you guessed it...the Flamingo! We skipped out on the sharks at mandalay bay.

A guy named Steiner took this picture for us in front of one of my favorite hotels, the Bellagio. This was just before the fountains started to the tune of "proud to be an American".

Don't be decieved!! This was all for picture purposes. I'm faking this, the people we actually saw playing for real, didn't look nearly as happy or excited.
The lights of Vegas as seen from the crazy tower of death. We had such a great time, even with the no sleep factor, but even so..... i really have no reason to ever go back! What happend in Vegas was just told.

a life blessed by those in it

......good-night you my friends.

100 things to do before i die...

So i was looking through my "hope" chest the other day and found a list i compiled on October 12, 2002 (thank goodness for printers that print dates on pages). It was a list of 100 things i want to do in my life. I went through it and checked off 35 things i had already accomplished! crazy! things like: learn the violin, have dreads, graduate college, be present when my cat dies....simple stuff, but all stuff i wanted to do at some point in my life. I also had listed stuff like "change the world for the better", which is a little harder to measure...but i checked it off anyway...hehe. Here are some that i haven't done..yet:

1. go back to New Zealand
2. be buttercup in a stage play
3. own a goat
4. ride an elephant
5. memorize another book of the Bible
6. do a triathalon
7. live in a log cabin
8. write a book (maybe a little ambitious)
9. sea kayak in alaska
10. witness Christs return (obviously out of my control :)

Some of the 65 things left to do i still want to do, others i would probably change, but it was neat to get out and read again. If you haven't done it i would recommend making a list like this and then put it away and find it years later. If you can organize to do that.

bounty

Look at this bounty! After emptying all of my grocery bags the other day I had to take a picture and a moment to praise God for "giving me my daily bread". I don't have to worry about going hungry....i am humbled by that, because many people do.

A quote:

" A humanist in choking sea called for help and presently received in full intensity advice. "you must swim, if you would be. Rescue breeds dependency; self-reliance makes one free." "that's nice!" He said, and floated easily. And dead. "

Trying to do "it" on our own never works like it would work if we let God.

Charlie the cat

This is Charlie. He comes to visit a couple of times a week just to hang out. He's my main squeeze.

WOW! my blog finally works! i've been trying...well since christmas to get in and it has never let me, so now i am shoing way overdue pictures from my wonderful family Christmas. My family always does something different around Christmas, but we do always have a night, just the four of us (mom,dad,jas,me) to open gifts.

No gift giving time with my parents is complete without something harley davidson. This time around it was these glasses and a clock that plays a different harley starting up each hour!
One of my gifts was this cat. Not the bottom one. It has a grain kernel bag inside it that you heat up and put back so you can hold a warm kitty. now i just need to rig some way to make it purr.On the 25th we had an extended family christmas in didsbury.For the past couple of years we have done the chinese gift exchange with close to 40 people. Crazy is what it is. I can't say the gift i ended up with this year isn't going to find its way back next time.

During these fun times i had four wonderful cousins and one of my other wonderful cousins' girlfriend staying with me. Here they are and this is what my house looked like :) There was not an extra inch of space to behold. This was after clean-up! :) hello house.