Pictures, as promised...

OK, so finally, I have taken some pictures of the new paint in the room. It was good that I waited, because now I have a bed and bedspread to show off too. Still haven't finished the curtains on the window... that's the last major project to complete the decorating of the room. I also took a picture of me, so you can see the new (but not so new anymore) hair. Now please understand that I realize this is not the best picture possible. I had my hair in a ponytail all day, and took it out to take a picture. So my hair is not at it's best. Also keep in mind that this is a self portrait... they never turn out quite as good. I had to take the picture about 15 times to get one that was halfway decent (I blinked in at least 12 of the others). So, this is the best picture you get for now. So sorry.

Yay to beds... boo to mall parking lots!!!!

I got a bed today. It was one that someone was selling for $30. It's a nice Ikea wooden frame single bed. It's actually a little wider than a normal single bed, but not as big as a double. It's nice. It's nice to actually have a bed in my room too. I went to Zellers this evening to buy a comforter (I had seen one there that I liked and figured would match my room). I ended up finding another one that I liked even more, and it was on sale. It's really nice... and it matches perfectly! Yay! So as I was leaving the mall, a friend called to see if I wanted to meet for dinner. My response was "Sure, once I find my car and get out of here". See... I didn't remember exactly where I parked b/c I was on the phone when I got to the parking lot (therefore not paying much attention to which entrance I was going in). I should clarify that the Metropolis Mall is HUGE. It's the second largest mall in Canada (after West Edmonton of course)... it's pretty big. There are a zillion parking places (really). So, I left the mall in search of my car. That began an almost three hour ordeal. When I hung up the phone, my friend said he would call me back in 1/2 hour (that should have been enough time to get to my can and get back home). When he called, I was still searching, and starting to get a little frustrated. After an hour of searching, I was getting really frustrated. After two hours, I was starting to cry. By the time I found my car, I could hardly move (I had been carrying around a rather large heavy bag with my new comforter in it this entire time). Now in those three hours, I went back into the mall a few times... to get my bearings, go pee, get some food, etc. I eventually had to ask a security guard for help. He's the one who actually found my car. I swear I walked every inch of parking lot except for the corner my car was parked in. GRRRR!!!! It was the most frustrating evening EVER! Obviously dinner plans were cancelled due to the fact that I had not yet made it home. So, the lessons I learned were: don't talk on the phone while entering the mall, and always pay attention to where you park and which entrance you come in.

My shopping spree :)

That's right, I went on a shopping spree today. I bought six shirts and a pair of jeans... all for $14.77. Yeah Value Village!!!! That's the most exciting news of the day.
I learned today that the alarm on my phone (which I have set Monday to Friday at 6:30am) stops ringing after one minute, and just becomes a missed alert. Yikes! Usually I wake up after a couple of rings, but I didn't sleep well last night, so I guess I wasn't ready to wake up this morning at 6:30am. Fortunately just as it was on the last ring, I heard a voice in my head saying "I think that's your alarm ringing". I have no recollection of having heard the alarm before that. I woke up just in time (thank you Jesus)... sleeping in would be REALLY BAD since the store can't open without me. That would make for some angry customers and an angry boss. I decided I'll have to start setting a second (or more reliable) alarm... like my alarm clock :)

Happy New Year!

Hi all! I realize it's been a whole week since I posted, but there hasn't been a whole lot new and/or exciting this week.
The co-worker I mentioned in my last post has now moved to another store, so I don't get to see her regularly. She called to say hi this morning, and we will probably plan to get together sometime soon.
Yesterday was Chinese New Year. I went to Chinatown on Saturday to explore. It was busy on Saturday, but the festivities for the New Year didn't actually start until Sunday. I'm wishing now that I had gone on Sunday instead of Saturday so that I could have seen the parade. Oh well... next year.
Sorry that I still haven't posted pictures yet... soon. The problem is that I still haven't finished cleaning the room enough to take pictures of it (go figure). Perhaps that will be my job after work tomorrow. When I get the camera out to take pictures of the room, I'll take one of the new hair too. I really should do that soon... before it grows back to the original length :)
Like I said, not much to report. Goodnight!

Adventures, blessings, and things to pray for...

I'll start with the adventures:
1. I painted my entire room this weekend... all by myself! I should mention that I have never painted anything before (well, unless you count primer... I did help some friends with primer a couple months ago... but never paint). Deric gave me a quick lesson on how to edge and paint, and off I went. Two coats of one colour, three of the other, lots of paint, and a lot of time during a weekend... and voila! My room is no longer drab grey and icky yellow... it's brown. That may not sound like an improvement to some of you, but believe me, IT IS! When I get all of the furniture put back in place and touch-ups done, I will take some new pictures and post them. I'm really happy with the way it came out, and I feel like I accomplished a great lifetime feat by painting a room (by myself at that)!
2. I explored a little bit more of downtown and checked out a $450,000.00 condo that is for sale in the heart of downtown (for that price in downtown Vancouver you can get a two bedroom condo that is 873 square feet... what a STEAL! HA! No wonder everyone in this city rents. I doubt that I would ever be able to buy real estate in this city... unless I decide to become a doctor after all. Even then... as you can probably imagine... if a small two bedroom condo is half a million, a house is too much money to even fathom. It hurts my head just to think about it). So, no, I did not run into a lot of money recently... there just happened to be an open house for this condo in the building that Sarah (see blessings) was house sitting in for a friend. I got some free chocolate out of playing the role of an interested buyer. It was fun!
3. I learned how to juggle... o.k. well I can't actually do it yet, but I started learning how to. I need a LOT of practice. So far I can't even manage two oranges (even one was a bit of a struggle), so it may take years before I get to three (and I probably shouldn't be using oranges... sometimes they split open). For those of you who know me, you're probably not at all surprised that juggling didn't exactly come naturally to me... but the point is that I tried, and that I'm learning new things. I know the technique now, and the theory behind it, I just have a hard time putting it into practice (go figure this coming from the kid who couldn't catch a ball if it was coming straight for her head). The free juggling lessons came out of an unexpectedly fun evening (see also blessing).
Now for the blessings:
1. My dad informed me this week that a refund cheque came in the mail for me. It was something that I had forgotten all about and wasn't expecting. The amount was for the same amount as the interest on my loans. So, the money went into paying back some of that heaping pile of debt I have incurred. That was a nice surprise (the cheque, not the debt).
2. Last week at church I met Sarah, who got in touch with me during the week and invited me to dinner at her place on Friday night. Friday ended up not panning out for her, but we did get together for lunch and an afternoon of fun adventure downtown on Saturday. I had such a good time and left feeling so happy to have really had a chance to connect. I really think that Sarah will be someone who I will become good friends with over time. Hanging out with her, and the fact that she took the initiative to befriend me was such a blessing to me.
3. A couple of weeks ago at the Jacob's Well workshop I met someone involved in a local kid's ministry who invited me to their community meal on Monday nights. The last two Monday's haven't worked for me, but this Thursday I called to ask about coming today. I found out the time and location and agreed to be there for dinner tonight. For various reasons, that I won't expound on in this blog, I was really not looking forward to going by the time today came. In fact, I spent much of yesterday and today thinking of ways that I could gracefully back out of going to this dinner. However, I had already committed to being there, and didn't feel right about backing out just because "I didn't feel like it" So I resigned myself to the fact that unless I came down with some kind of illness today, I was going to dinner tonight. I decided that I would just try to have fun and try to remember that any time I meet new groups of people, I may be meeting someone who will become a good friend or good connection. Well, it's funny how God works. After totally not wanting to go tonight, it ended up being more fun than I could have imagined. We ate, walked, talked, laughed and juggled. I may have made a couple of new friends. I learned more about this ministry and I am seriously considering volunteering once a week.
4. Reine gave me an old sweater of hers that she doesn't wear anymore. It's my new favourite article of clothing :)
I'm sure there have been other blessings along the way that I'm missing, but these are the ones that stand out at the moment.
Things to pray for...
1. Continued financial provision... a way to pay back loans.
2. Wisdom in deciding my level of involvement in various things, including volunteering with ministries.
3. That God would continue to bring people across my path who will be important people in my life here and the ministry that God is calling me to.
4. I had an opportunity today to share with one of my co-workers a little bit about my God. I listened as she told me about her background, her search for truth, and the confusion that she is feeling. I encouraged her that God wants us to know Him and that if she is praying and seeking to know more about Him, He will give her understanding and allow her to see more of Him. Please pray that God would show Himself to her and that she would continue to grapple with those tough questions.
5. Pray that I will be faithful to the Spirit's promptings and that I will truly be an ambassador of Christ both at work and at home.

P.S. The font colours I chose are similar to the colours in my room... just to give you a little sneak peak :)

Updates

I guess it's a good thing that I haven't had time to post in almost a week... it means that I have more to do now than just be on the computer (I have a social life... YES!), but I apologize to those of you who have anxiously been awaiting an update. A lot has happened since the last time I posted.
Sunday was the best church experience that I have had yet since arriving in Vancouver. The church is one that a couple of friends had recommended, and is close to my house. It's a small church, the pastor was very good, and it was a very welcoming church family. Someone around my age sat next to me and talked to me. After church she invited me to come with her and some of the other young adults in the church to the associate pastor's home for lunch and fellowship. I went, and I'm so glad that I did. I had a wonderful time and met a great group of people my age. Yeah!
On Monday I cut my hair... A LOT! I was at work when a girl who works at the salon in the mall (ironically enough, the name is "Hennessy Salon") came over to let us know that we could get free hair cuts. She is a new hairstylist and needed hair models (people to practice on). I booked an appointment with her for one hour later when I got off work. I'm game to let someone use me as their guinea pig if it means a FREE haircut. I was getting to the point which I needed a haircut anyway, so a free one is great! I was so excited! I had her cut it a lot shorter... it now hangs between my ears and shoulders (probably 3 - 4 inches shorter than it was before). It took a REALLY long time to cut (I was only her second hair model... the first was an older man with hardly any hair to begin with), but it was free so I didn't complain.... and the salon gives you cookies and coffee while you're getting your hair cut! The stylist did a very good job, I love the new doo (I'll try to post a picture on here soon). It just felt right to make a drastic change to my hair. After all, in the last six weeks my entire life has changes drastically, I figured my hairstyle should reflect those changes.
Monday night when I got home from work, Reine (not actually spelled Rayna like I thought) was here and had started to move in some of her things. We both were out for the rest of the evening (I went to the Monday night meal with Deric and Amber's team again), but when we got home, we sat around and talked for quite a while. Since Monday we've had lots of opportunities to spend time getting to know each other a little more. She's really great, and I'm definitely convinced that it's a God-thing that we're living together. Yesterday she moved in the rest of her stuff... our kitchen is now complete (well mostly - still waiting on a microwave, but at least there are more than 3 forks and spoons in the kitchen now, and a table to eat at).
On Tuesday night I went again to the home church in my neighbourhood. I'm really enjoying it and I'm getting to know people there, which is great. I think that will become something I do on a weekly basis.
I'm still enjoying my job. I burned myself the other day... it hurt like crazy, but it didn't even blister, so I was happy about that. I'm discovering my least favourite soups. There is one called "Sicilian Zupe" that although it tastes fine (pasta, tomatoes, sausage... not too bad), it smells horrific. I want to rename it "Sicilian Puke (Pew - k)". I think it smells like vomit... perhaps more specifically, baby vomit. It smells disgusting. I hope we don't serve it again in a LONG time. There is a curry soup that also smells funny, but it's not as gross as this. My favourite soups are still "Tomatoes with a Tan" and "Squashed". They taste and smell good.
I've also been working on some projects in my bedroom. I made a curtain to cover the closet with no door (the room looks so much better with just that added). Once I finished the curtain, I felt more motivated to do more decorating. I found a Fabricland and bought lots of different fabrics that match the curtain and the colour of paint I'm planning to paint the room. Last night I made a runner to cover the top of the entertainment unit in my room (it had a big crack in the wood on the top and didn't look too nice... a runner did the trick to fix that problem). Next is window coverings, a throw blanket, pillows, and whatever else I can manage to make with the fabrics I bought (I got some great deals!). I'm hoping to get started with the painting on the weekend. Once I have the room decorated, I'll take more pictures and post them. I think it'll look really good when it's done. I'm excited!
Aside from all of those things, God has really been teaching me a lot in the last few weeks. He is so good and never ceases to amaze me! Every day when I head north on my way home from work (especially on the sunny days) the view takes my breath away (often quite literally). Every day, I'm amazed by the beauty and every day when I see the mountains, I am certain that my God is a BIG God and that my God loves me. I pray that I will never stop feeling amazed. Sometimes I wonder if He made the mountains just for me. Maybe not, but I think I was made for this place. As funny as that may sound, I believe in my heart that this is where I belong... this feels like home. I'm so grateful for this time of exploring possibilities and seeking Him. I am confident that I am right where God wants me and feel more content to live one day at a time than I have in the past. Even in my wildest dreams three months ago when I decided to move to Vancouver, I never could have anticipated the way this adventure would unfold before me. I'm loving the ride!

The most exciting thing of the day...

So, there I am, just about at the end of my day serving soup, when I caught a glimpse of a familiar face walking through the mall. We both did a double take and then I realized that lo and behold, there was Jared! Jared was my neighbour at home from the time I was in high school. He moved to Vancouver a year or two ago. When I decided to move out to Vancouver, my brother gave me Jared's e-mail address. I found out at that point that he was indeed in Vancouver, but in January would be moving up to northern British Columbia to work. So, imagine my surprise today seeing him in the mall. I think that he was just as surprised. What are the chances??? We talked for quite some time. As it turns out, plans changed and he is back in Vancouver, and incidentally lives only a few blocks away from the mall that I work at. We exchanged numbers and will likely get together for coffee sometime in the near future. So, that was by far, the coolest thing that happened today. I was very excited about the encounter... it really made my day. Hooray for familiar faces amongst a sea of strangers :)