So sad....

Last weekend was a devastating time for a lot of families in our old neighborhood. A small campfire (possibly a campfire as it hasn't been confirmed yet) soon got out of control and due to the high winds last Friday afternoon it spread to a forest fire 15kms by 2kms. 1000's of people were evacuated including a lot of friends of ours. Unbelievably only 2 homes were burnt to the ground and a few more were damaged. If the campfire thing is true then I hope they get the person who did this and prosecute them. Everyone in the HRM know about the burn ban through the summer, so why have an open fire???? We have a small fire pit here which we use now and again but I will seriously consider not using it again. Some are saying that with the hurricane in 2003 the downed trees weren't cleared and it was an accident waiting to happen. This is so true, we saw it ourselves first hand just in our own backyard there. The fear that must have gone through these peoples minds as they watched it quickly approach their homes. I remember having those thoughts looking out of my house in NS as we were surrounded by the forest, it was my biggest fear. Sadly a friend of mine from Hillside church lost her mother. Although her death isnt related to the fire it must have contributed to it. Thank god her family went to her house to get her out when they were evacuating or who knows what could have happened. My thoughts and prayers are definately with the family.

I have a "stalker".....

And I mean that in the nicest possible sense of the word. I am so naive and computer illiterate since I married Steve because I just give him the things to do on the pc and just leave it at that. If there is something that I don't understand online I either leave it or send him the link. Yes call it laziness, I don't care. Anyhoo I never realised that when you link something to a website what is called ping back happens (now Wikipedia will be able to see my blog...great!) After my blog a couple of blogs ago about Wellspring Community Church someone called Dave messages me as you can see from the comments. Who is Dave??? This is "stalker" number uno ;-) I go back to Wellspring last weekend and Pastor Marc mentions to me "Oh I appreciated your comments on your blog". Hmmm, "stalker" number deux??? Lol all these comments set aside though I really didnt mind and I shouldnt call Marc a stalker because he is now on my Facebook list so he's now officially a friend instead.

So yes we went back to Wellspring last weekend (see I linked it there so Hello Marc and Dave) Prayers were definitely answered and Steve came with us this time. I knew he would come at some point but I was pleasantly surprised it happened so soon (now he wants my blog address so he will now know that for the first time) Wasn't too sure what he would make of it as I have never even seen him sing in church let alone stand up and clap his hands so was a little concerned of his reaction. Needn't have worried though because as soon as someone will get him onto the subject of the military then he is in his element.....oh yes and electronics, blowing things up etc etc (the usual boy stuff) so thank you to Rick, Marc and Ray for that one. Of course the first thing I said to him when we got in the car was "Well???" I'm not one to skirt around a subject and need answers immediately ;-) The official Steve verdict was he liked it, felt comfortable, felt because of the layout of the church it was very welcoming and relaxing. Liked all the people there and said he would like to go back. He even went home to his parents (very strict Catholics and would never be seen in a church like this) and told them all about it and was very positive. So yes we will be back and eventually I would love to make it my home church. I actually brought home the network groups infomation which is 2 1/2 pages long and am going to give it to Central church and ask them if they can beat that. I still have yet to go in and see Rev Stephen but I know I will have to sometime soon. Rebecca still has some commitments to the puppets but shes climbing the walls to get out of it now. Prayers all round for that one please.

PS. Marc and Dave, I hope I didn't offend you with the stalker comment. Certainly not intentional. Call it the British humour, it will grow on you ;-)

Did you hear the one about......

People/Idiots using thongs as disguise while robbing a bank. It's true, lookie here Got to laugh and give them bonus points for stupidity. Hope they were clean ;-)

The Revelation Song

This is an awesome song. Loads of different versions and singers but this has to definitely be the best. So powerful.

Does anyone read my warblings?? I have just been reading Kelly's goings on in her life and thought "hmmm I could never write anything so interesting as that so no I'm guessing nobody every reads this" Please tell me I am wrong. I really should update more often too but having such a sad little life tells me otherwise.

I am having a real hard time right now with my church. It's not my faith (that couldnt be much more deeper) but more my church. Nothing against our minister but when you leave the church to go home and you cant remember what the sermon was about then yes thats a problem. Last weekend we visited a relatives church in Welland. A bit further to go but it would be worth it. It's not your normal everyday run of the mill church (Danny even wanted to know where the cross was outside the church) but is very contemporary and took me back to my Hillside days (man I miss those days) The building from the outside looks like a shed although it was once a school but once you go in it is like going into a completely different world. Worship is held in a huge gym like hall which reminded me of walking into a ballroom in a 5 star hotel. There are no pews but big round tables which you would find in a hotel ballroom. Thought I would have a hard time dealing with that but no I found it very inviting. The first 30 minutes was just pure worship singing which was more like a rock concert but half way through I suddenly realised the very good reason for doing it this way (other than praising the Lord obviously) It meant you could be late and nobody would be any the wiser!! Excellent idea #1. After 30 minutes they came around with the offering. This I think was the only thing I had a bit of an issue with because a) I had barely managed to drink my tea let alone get my purse out, find an envelope and write it out and b) Were we paying to listen to the sermon??? Still don't know what difference it makes by doing it at the start or the end of the service (Kelly, maybe you could answer that one for me please....when do you guys do it?) Then we had a five minute break (recess...excellent idea #2) and the kids went off to their groups. Danny and Rebecca were all for it considering they really don't know anyone there. Pastor Marc came on then and did an awesome sermon about prayer. They're just going into a week of prayer so it linked into that very nicely. He was talking about how new Christians find it hard to pray out loud and why. Ive only been a Christian for almost 6 years and still find it very difficult to pray out loud in front of people (other than one time at Juliet's in 2005 when I asked Him not to hit me over the head again when there was an issue He needed to get through to me....had to warn me to put a helmet on next time) I have no issue at all in doing it in my own private space although that was hard in the beginning trying to get past the fact of praying into thin air. I read about couples who pray together and I so wish me and Steve could do that but I guess both of us have our reasons. Thinking about it though I did pray the other day in the car with my friend for a sign as we were getting more and more lost in Hamilton. The sign came in the form of a QEW Niagara this way sign on the side of the road so there my first out loud prayer in public was answered in seconds!! So yes the sermon was definitely aimed at the likes of me thats for sure. Barbecue was then after the service to raise money to send the youth on their camping weekend next month. All very different to what I have been used to for the past year.

Now the next issue is how do I tell my other church that I am walking??? Hmmmm, thoughts for another day maybe.

O Canada, eh!

Today was the day that has been in the waiting for over 4 years now. It was the day we had to go to get our citizenships. What did we do to celebrate??? We did what every new Canuck does and went to the States!!!!!lol....oh yes and get hopelessly drunk on locally produced Chardonnay ;-)

Where babies come from.......from icky pictures in school books

Had a great conversation with Danny tonight. Went something like this......

Danny - We are learning about babies again this year
Me - Really, didnt you do that last year
D - kinda, but today we learnt about ultrasounds and stuff
M - Thats cool then
D - Yeah our student teacher was talking about it and she told us to turn the page in our books to look at something else and there were icky pictures on there

Ok didnt want to carry on discussing too much at that particular moment but he did say they were icky pictures of babies getting out rather than getting in so atleast tonight wasnt the night to have to go through THAT conversation.


Just had to post this. This is Britains experience of a lot of snow........















Would post one of our winter storms but don't want to embarrass the Brits too much ;-)