Scratches on Paper June 3, 2011

I love letters.

Not the emailed kind, or ones typed up and then printed, but real handwritten letters. Nothing can ever compare to those and it saddens me that soon letters won’t even exist and they will be even more a thing of the past.

I love how you can see where the person pressed to hard and their pencil broke, where the author took time to make sure each word is perfect, or when they were rushing to get the thoughts in there head out.

I love how the pieces of paper are creased and worn from reading the words over and over, committing them to memory.

I love seeing your name on the top written by someone you care about.

I love seeing when they changed their mind and crossed out a word to put a better one in its place.

I love knowing that they care to actually sit down and write something, not taking the easy way out and sitting behind a computer.

But mostly I love the connection that comes with the letter, seeing the printing, smelling the paper and ink, remembering the moment that letter came into your hands. I don’t remember the time I got any emails, but my memories of letters are there and I for one hope that I never stop getting letters and knowing how much I love them I am sure to send more out to the people I love and spread the joy of a handwritten letter.

Thoughts in the rain March 28, 2011

“Call it what you will, I call it rain”

There is just something about rain that I love. Maybe that comes from living in a place where rain is so frequent that I have to learn to live with it but I think it is something more than that. I am sitting on my bed on vacation in a warm hot place and the rain is pouring down outside but really I am not that upset. There is something about rain that is calming even with the thunder and lightning; it makes you slow down, relax and that is something that we all need to do every once and a while.

Drops racing down my window

Falling from the sky

Breathing life into this old earth

Helping it to fly

The smell of dust rises up

Thunder begins to sound

The flash of lightning wakes me up

As the water swirls around

Like music the drops fall down

Making their journey from sky to earth

Watering the ground

And creating new birth

So today I will spend time relaxing and enjoying my day and thanks for listening to my thoughts on this day.

I might as well get the ball rolling…… March 10, 2011

Ok guys

We know that we haven’t really been posting very much lately and we are very sorry about that.

A few weeks ago we came up with a really good idea to all blog at least once a month and do it on a similar topic so it can bring about discussion and then we don’t have to wait for something exciting to happen to write. The problem is that no one really wanted to be the person that started off this new blogging adventure. Every few days a conversation comes about between us that goes something like this:

“So that blog thing, is it going to happen?”

“Yes we really want it to happen”

“So is someone going to do something about it?”

“Oh yeah as soon as I have some free time”

But nothing seems to ever happen and now I will change that. I don’t exactly remember what our final topic was going to be but since I am the one starting it I believe I have artistic license to choose the topic and I know at one point we had the idea of doing something to do with the idea of destiny, everything happening for a reason, and stuff of that genre so I will do something on that line, knowing that my opinion on this topic may be very different from some of the others.

I believe my life has already been planned, that while I make my own decisions that there is someone who knows everything that will ever happen to me and that person is God.

“For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb…

all the days ordained for me were written in your book

before one of them came to be.”

Psalm 139:13, 16

I was raised a Christian and I still am, but now the faith is my own, not my families. One of the things that I believe is that there is an all-knowing, all-powerful God who can also be known on a personal level and with that that he knows me and everything that will be happen to me. God does not control me however, if he did God would be a puppeteer and that is not something that he tries to be. I make my own decisions, my own mistakes, and God knows every one that I will make (and there will be many). I know that many people don’t believe what I do and would frankly be creeped out  with someone knowing everything about them. I take comfort in that fact, knowing that there is someone who at every single moment of every day knows what I am going through and is there. I know that he has a plan for my life and though many days I wish that he would just hurry up and tell me what that plan is I know that it will be amazing.

On the topic of everything happening for a reason I do believe that is true, good and bad. I heard a term last night called “Christian Karma” and I completely disagree with it. It pretty much says that many Christians believe that if we do lots of good things that God will be nice to us and we will have a really easy life and if we sin God will cause all these horrible things to happen to us as a punishment. To that I have just this response.

“The real problem is not why some pious, humble, believing people suffer, but why some do not. “
— C.S. Lewis

We do not suffer or prosper because of things we have done and while we do not understand so many things that happen in our lives I do believe that each of them have a reason for happening.

I will use two examples from my own life to explain this that I could not see the meaning in them while they were happening but now looking back I can see all the good that came from these events.

My first example happened when I was 9 and my grandpa passed away. As with all these type of things I was confused and hurting and didn’t know why God would take my grandpa away from me. I still do not understand everything (and I never will) but what I do know is that in the days and weeks following his death I prayed more that I had ever prayed before in my life and for the first time I made my faith my own. Life meant more to me after that as I saw how quickly it could be taken away and that would not have happened if my grandpa had not died.

The second example is a lot more recent as it was just last year. I had applied to work at the camp I have attended since I was eight years old, but for reasons I didn’t understand at the time I did not get a spot. Two months later a spot suddenly opened up and it was offered to me and I did not hesitate to say yes but with very different motives in my head. I did not apply for camp in the first place for the right reasons. I applied because it was what I felt I “needed to do” after 8 years of attending the camp, because I wanted to have a fun summer, and because I couldn’t see myself doing anything else with my summer. When I finally said yes on that very exciting day in May my reasons were very different. I went to camp to serve God, to serve the hundreds of campers that would be coming to that camp in the summer and wash their dishes, and mostly to become closer to God and all those things I achieved.

So many things in our lives we don’t understand why they happen, but we cannot see our whole life, we only see what is going on right now from our point of view. But God sees more than that, he sees the whole picture and everything that will ever happen to us. It is because of that that I trust him with everything as everything is already his to begin with.

And as a very smart lady by the name of Julie Andrews once said “Every time God closes a door somewhere he opens a window”

A thought, a poem, a release February 4, 2011

Regret: a feeling of sorrow or remorse for a fault, act, loss, disappointment, etc

It’s 11:11 again

A time when I didn’t use to wish

For I had everything I needed

But now I have wishes

Too many it seems, then I could ever say

But still I wish them

Hoping that they will come true

Thinking “If only they did, I would be happy”

Looking back, to times when I was

And for a split second regretting them

For if they didn’t happen I wouldn’t be where I am now

But I don’t regret those times,

moments,

feelings,

For in them I grew

And while today it hurts

It hurts a bit less than yesterday

So maybe,

just maybe

One day I will wake up and the hurt will be gone

But not the memories

Those will always stay

And I never want them to go

For if I was happy then, they aren’t worth regretting

But still there are moments

“It would be easier” I say

And yes it would be, but life isn’t easy

And it is not on the mountains that we grow

but in the valley’s

where there is pain

and suffering

And I have learned so much

about the power of friendship

and families

how the people who care about you are always there

And while hurting is bad

Regretting is worse

So the former is inevitable

but I control the later

and I will

but I won’t stop wishing

for a better day

as I know it is coming

 

 

 

Why I Love My Parents January 19, 2011

I am in the minority, I am a teenager and I am close with my parents. That is something that doesn’t usually happen as the teenager in question suddenly stops thinking that Daddy can do everything and Mom understands you. Sure I get that sometimes, but I know that in everything they are there for me.

When I was two and one of my toys broke, I would go up to my dad and say “daddy fix?” and just like that he would fix it. When I had bad dreams he would come in and help me think of happy things like waffles, vereniki, and strawberries (i liked food a lot) and all the bad things would go away. Last night I came to the first thing that daddy couldn’t fix, though he tried and he made me laugh a lot which is way more than I was expecting. I wish he could fix everything and while I have come to the point now when he can’t I take comfort knowing that he will always try.

My mom and I have always been close, I talk about my day and everything else with her, so last night when my world was turned upside down the first person I went to talk to was her. She didn’t care that it was midnight she just talked with me and hugged me and cried with me. I love that I have that sort of relationship with my mom that i can talk to her about anything and everything.

I know that was short, but it was just what was on my mind and it was something that I wanted to get out and make sure that they know.

Andrea

Christmas Time Is Here November 30, 2010

WOW Guys

Where has the time gone? I think I blinked and now it is almost December. The first snow of the year has come and gone, our house is fully decorated, and the house is starting to smell like Christmas cookies. Next to summer vacation Christmas is my favourite time of year, I love the feeling of closeness with friends and family, how our house feels all decorated with angels and snowmen, and the ability that I have to give back to my community.

Family is a huge part of my life, I love mine so much and love spending time with them. Christmas is so special to me because of all the little traditions that we have that makes me feel so much closer to them. From silly things like hiding the pickle in the Christmas Tree on Christmas Eve, to our trip downtown to see all the hotels, to the millions of pictures that need to be taken before we can open our family presents on Christmas Eve. None of these things seem that big, but without them Christmas just wouldn’t be Christmas.

I am a huge fan of Christmas music, I’ve been listening to mine since September to the annoyance of many of my friends. So now that I am starting to hear Christmas music in places other than my iPod I am extremely happy. From old carols to new Christmas songs I love them all and hearing them just makes me that more excited for Christmas.

In December my church hosts homeless people from the community every night. We feed them, give them a warm place to sleep, and through getting to know them help them to find jobs and places to live to start their lives over again. To me this is so important because it gives me a sense that I am giving back. To be able to talk to these people and hear their stories is an amazing thing and one thing my family and I did last year was serve breakfast on Christmas morning. We are going to be doing it again this year and I am so happy. To serve breakfast I have to be at church at 5:30 in the morning and while it is very early, especially on Christmas morning the feeling that I get from serving these people is way better then how I feel later in the day opening my presents. It really puts everything into perspective as you give these people Christmas presents and it is what you hate getting, things like socks and toiletries but they are so thankful and appreciative.  Considering giving back this Christmas season, it will mean more than any gift you receive.

Have a very happy December,

Andrea

One of Us October 6, 2010

As the Glee fanatic that I am, I was excitedly waiting for Glee since the end of the last episode, I turned on my TV 10 minutes before so I wouldn’t miss a second of the show, and for that hour I sat on my couch curled up in a blanket and I watched. This week’s episode was an interesting one, but it ended up being my favourite episode of all time. This episode in particular dealt with faith and you saw what all these different people believed as they were faced with a very difficult situation. I was wondering how they were going to deal with this particular issue and I was very pleased with the result. My favourite song in the episode was the song they ended with “One of Us” by Joan Osborn where the lyrics go

“What if God was one of us
Just a slob like one of us
Just a stranger on the bus
Trying to make his way home”

This is a very interesting thing to consider as many people, if they think there is a God, think that he is this person far away who can’t relate to us at all. But I do believe that God was once one of us and from something that he said while he was here, he still is. In Matthew 25:34-40 it says,

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ ”Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ ”The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’

God may not be physically here on earth, but all the people that he cares about are so that should be enough motivation to treat everyone like that. Just because they are not rich, or popular, or anything else that seems to matter in this world, doesn’t mean they should be treated any better than the people that are less “socially acceptable” Jesus when he was on earth didn’t hang out with the rich people a lot of the time, most of the time he was eating with the tax collectors, prostitutes, crippled, and lepers, the people no one wanted to associate with at all. This brings me to the one line in this song I don’t agree with where it goes,

“Nobody calling on the phone
Except for the pope maybe in Rome”

If God really was on earth right now I don’t think that he would be calling the Pope, I believe that he would be down on the Downtown Eastside talking to the homeless people, loving them and just being their friend. That is what I want to be like, I don’t want to be labelled a Christian, I want to be known as one who is like Christ; who loves like he loves someone who doesn’t judge, and who lives my whole life for him.

Why I Love Blogging September 21, 2010

There is something special about sitting down to write a new blog post. You see the blankness of the page in front of you and sure I’m scared about what to put there, but that is how it should be. I am putting my feelings out for the world to see, it should be terrifying. But way more than the scariness that is there is this sense of optimism, of excitement as you begin to put your hands against the smooth keys and type. I don’t plan when I’m going to blog I just sit down and do it; let my thoughts create words that form across the page. I don’t remember what I first though a year ago when I was told for class that I had to blog for English, it wasn’t bad thoughts, but I certainly did not realize what a big impact blogging would have on my life. What started out as a class assignment evolved and moulded to so much more than that; it became a place to put my feelings, my ideas, my ramblings, and before I knew it the year was ending and I was starting to miss the blog that had not yet gone away. That is why when my friends and I decided to make this blog I was so excited, I get to keep doing something that I love and has become such an attachment to me and I get to do it alongside seven of my friends who feel the same attachment to the words on this blog as I do. There is something permanent about putting something on the internet and I feel like deep down that is one of my many attractions to the blogging universe, a place where my thoughts, my ideas, my whole being will always be even after I’m gone or stop blogging or anything that may happen. One day I may want to remember what it was like to be 16 and here it will be for me, and you, to enjoy. I can’t promise that what I put on here will be great, or even good, or make sense at all, but I can wholeheartedly promise that every word on here will be me and while that is scary it is also the most amazing feeling ever.

Until Next Time

Andrea

Home Again September 14, 2010

Hello Everybody

First off I am very very sorry that the whole summer passed by without me writing on this blog, I did mean to really, but I was gone all summer (more on that later) and when I was home writing was the last thing that I wanted to do. But here we are into the second week of school already and I have finally got the time to sit down and update you all on my life. I had an insanely busy summer as I worked for 7 weeks and the camp I grew up at and it was an amazing experience. I learned more about myself and what the future hold for me, I made many new friends (who sadly live far away from me), I became a better leader, learned how to run a zip line, and became very proficient at washing dishes. The last thing I actually spent a lot of time on as I was a C.I.T. (counselor in training) and only spent a week and half in cabin with the kids; the rest of the time was spent learning how to be a counselor, helping with activities, and yes doing a lot of dishes. I learned a lot in those weeks but that week and a half when I was in charge or those kids gave me a new perspective on a lot of things. Those were the most tiring weeks of my life, there were times when I didn’t know if I could go on, but I made it through and am definitely a better person because of it.

The day after I got home from camp my family and I went on a road trip to my grandparents who live in Calgary (about one day of driving) but instead of doing that like we do every year we decided to take the long scenic route and see all the stuff that we never see. It was so cool see so much in my own province and so close to where I live; we went to Banff and Jasper and I saw the glaciers. I saw some wildlife (but no moose), rode a gondola, and slept (a lot). When we got to Calgary I spent a lot of time with family which is really nice because I rarely get to see them, I also got in some driving practice as well as a stop at Peter’s Drive In which has the best burgers and milkshakes in the world. The way back we took through the states so I got to so parts of Washington I had never seen before such as a little Bavarian town called Leavenworth (where we ate at Andrea’s!) We ended with some back to school shopping and headed home.

Now here we are; school’s started, the days are getting shorter, and we are all getting back into routine, but I agree with Kiko as much I loved summer and wish that it could be over, I”m glad it’s September. I’m happy to get back into everything again (ok maybe homework not so much) and to have everything settle down into a routine. So I better get back to that routine of mine and I hope to talk to you all really soon.

Andrea

♫With our hands up high we’re screaming Whoa whoa oh♫ June 28, 2010

Hello to everyone out there who is fortunate to be reading our blog. My name is Andrea and I am one of eight girls who are involved in this blogging experiment. We all know each other really well as we spent the past two years in the same class and we have decided that since we are going to be all around the world this summer and we all love to blog why not keep up with each other through blogs? All of us have experience blogging as we had individual blogs for our English class this past year and we all loved it and ended up writing way more than we ever had to, but now this is a way for us all to write about what we want all summer long and if we want after that. We are a very diverse group, but we fit together perfectly; make sure to check out everyones individual pages to find out more about each one. There is no set time or day that we have to blog as some of us may not always have access to a computer or internet, but since there is so many of up there will probably be a few each week. I hope that you enjoy our journey this summer and as long as we continue this and to the girls I hope you all have an amazing summer; I know what ever you do will be awesome.

And now more about me. In just a few days I am going to be leaving for one of my favourite places in the world. I am going to be working at the camp that I have been going to for the past eight years, but instead of just a week I am going to be there all summer. I am so excited for everything that I am going to be doing (even washing dishes!!), but I am a little bit nervous because I live pretty far away so I won’t be coming home every weekend and also I will know pretty much no one at first and i am not the most outgoing person so that is definitely something I can work on this summer. It is actually coming up so fast, I just looked at the calender and was like “woah”. But now it officially is summer in my mind even if it doesn’t look like it outside as I wrote my last exam this morning and am now free for two months! Well I guess that is all for now. I can’t wait to see where this blog is going to take us

Andrea

Song currently playing: Politicians by Switchfoot

Number of bracelets on wrist: 5 + hair elastic