Introducing....

My Mom!

Welcome to Blogger.

And you can check her out here.

Monday Madness

Card Making with MOM


Both are just simple friendship cards. Made two of each. The stamps and inks are by Stampin' Up! and the paper is from Michaels'. Ribbon and Brads from mom's secret stash...

Summer's Pending Playlist

Nope, no Mozart.

Here's my list of summer's tunes.

20. You found Me- The Fray
19. If I had a Million Dollars- Barenaked Ladies
18. I'm Still a Guy- Brad Paisley
17. Viva La Vida- Coldplay
16. Nowhere with You- Joel Plaskett
15. Boom Boom Boom- Venga Boys (thank you dorm 10 girls!)
14. Right Round- Flo Rida
13. First Day of My Life- Bright Eyes
12. All Summer Long- Kid Rock (making a come back from being overplayed last year)
11. I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)- The Proclaimers
10. Love Story- Taylor Swift
9. Waiting on the World to Change- John Mayer
8. Sweet Home Alabama- Lynard Skynard
7. Follow You into the Dark- Death Cab for Cutie
6. Lollipop- Mika
5. Everything- Michael Buble
4. I Want it That Way- Backstreet Boys
3. I'm Yours- Jason Mraz
2. Live your Life- T.I. ft. Rihanna
1. Africa- Karl Wolf ft. Culture

Also, it has been a long time since I could open my window and fall asleep to the rain.

Songs of the clouds and stars and symphony of the dewdrops.

Playlist subject to change.

Signs of Spring

In the garden, the flowers have begun to bloom, the deep dull browns of winter are passing by. All's quiet in the gardens, on the streets, with a quiet serenity to the sunshine today.

The neighbors have an old bicycle that was parked out on their driveway. I liked the look of it against the fresh grass. Seemed old and antique in the newness of spring.













I liked the juxtaposition of the new flowers against last year's oak leaves in the garden.




And now, for a little photo editting. My attempt at emphasizing the bright daffodils that have decided to make an appearance.

Alas...

Home.

is where the heart is?

I have a lot of unpacking to do.

Quote of the Day
"I'm always scared to try new dropjes, because you never know what you're going to get!"
-Kristen

Ode

Ode to Bed.

I will miss this mattress.

Ode to Redeemer.

Where do I start?

I feel as though this year has been the culmination of so very many things for me. I've made so many incredible friends. I have learned how to live with myself, and with other people. I have delved into a world of academia that I never thought could be this wonderful. Redeemer is amazing.

Ode to God.

Really, this should have been first. I'm not in the practise of editting blog entries.

God is good. God is strong. God is mighty. There is nothing my God cannot do.

My Redeemer journey first started at SDCI, sitting in the cafeteria, wondering where on earth I was going to University. I remember mulling over taking SATs to potentially get into Calvin, and then knowing I would fail them miserably because of my inability to do math or science. Consequently, I had to look at Canadian schools. It worked out. I don't remember why exactly it was Redeemer. I think I got talked into coming to one of the campus visit days and ended up loving the school. And I mean LOVING the school. God stuck this certainty in me that this was where I was supposed to be.

And then summer happened. Now let's remember that I went to public school, and graduated high school already a year previous. I figured, whatever, going to school, it was on my list. Redeemer had never been my first choice. Nope, that was Western, or Queens. But here I am, a year finished. I've had my stupid awkward moments. I have wanted to curl up into a ball and wish it would end. I have wanted certain moments to last forever. But God has been showing me the awesome plans he has in store for me.

The FYF verse still stands. Jeremiah 29:11.

I can't begin to count all the things God has taught me. I cannot begin to name all the different ways God has blessed me. I cannot even understand all the ways God challenged me.

Tonight was a night of goodbyes. Tonight is my last night in my new home. Tonight I've teared up a bunch, and smiled a bunch. Tonight I took down all my photos, posters and artwork. Tonight I started to prepare myself for readjusting back into life. Tonight I ask God to make me strong, and to perfect his power in my weakness. Tonight I pray that my friendships will last, that my energy will stand, that my patience will be tried, tested and bruised, and that I will be shaken this summer.

Ode to sunshine...
...for making an appearance.

Too Much Coffee

This past week has been fun. I have spent some time in the library studying, and chatting with others who are madly trying to pass exams. I have consumed much sugar and much caffiene.

Friday night I was studying for histroy with my roommate, writing down the world's past century by century. I'd had a lot of coffee that afternoon and a bunch of white chocolate macedamian nut cookies (it helps to make friends with the cafeteria workers), so my energy levels were pretty high. I was doing well, until we got the French Revolution and one of the questions to answer was worded like this.

"In 1793, Louis XIV lost his ________."

That was the point of no return. Feel free to fill in the blank to your own thoughts. The correct answer is head, but clearly that is not what entered our minds. The next 4 hours were like this.



Thank you to the muppets for accurately portraying my evening.

Booth Buddying

Yes, it has been a while since I've written an entry.

This week for me has been insane! I am in the midst of exams, which means that I have spent likely a total of 2 complete days in the library. There is something entertaining about trying to get work done in the library. Everyone there has the same sort of unhappy disposition floating from them, that is the complete loathing of the fact they are inside studying for the exam in the class they hate anyways but need to pass, because let's face it- good grades is money in the pocket. However, in our misery, sitting in the independent stalls they call 'study booths' we happen to make friends. Particularly, I've noticed that the same people always sit in the same places. As the week progresses, we get to know each other, and what everyone is studying for. It is the phenomenon I like to call Booth Buddying.

On a different note, I have finished four of my five exams and am currently seated at my booth by the poetry section of the library. It has a certain appeal to it, as it is close enough to the window that I get to see the sunshine and be a tad jealous, and yet still quite sufficiently placed near the books so that I can stay on track. Eastern Europe, here I come!

I had a meeting with the Editor in Chief for next years Crown (student publication) and I am quite thrilled to be working on the team with him next year. I'll be in charge of the Layout, so basically double checking everything, making sure advertisements and pictures and articles get in, look good and are all around awesome! I am so excited for next year. I have finally found my outlet at this school!

The good news of all this madness is that summer is finally in sight. Moving home in T minus 4 days.

Mass

Supper conversation today was more of comic relief from the pressures of studying over anything else.

We were making fun of one of the girls in my dorm for playing Euchre, calling a lone hand and getting no tricks. Embarassing, right?

Well, she was trying to add some dignity to herself and re-stated that she was a 'good euchrist'. This statement is fair, except that what she had meant and what the sentence meant where two different things. The Euchrist is Catholic Mass.

Perhaps you had to be there to think it was funny. But my favourite part was that she didn't know why we were all laughing at her. Oh, I will miss my dormmates.

Tell the World

With a close to the Easter season, I am forced to study for my religion course. It's interesting how the content I am studying pertains to witnessing the good news of the Risen Savior to a culture that believes God is dead. We live in a story of Confessional Humanism, caught in the middle of the truth that I AM has already put his redeeming plan into action.

Confessional Humanism 101.

If God is dead, we must replace him as Creator.
If God is dead, we must replace him as Ruler of history.
If God is dead, we must replace him as Savior and Redeemer.

And what do we come up with? Science. The Industrial Revolution. We come up with a consumerist story of the world where religion is only relevant to the individual. What happened to a church that was part of every aspect of society? This is why Christians today are stuck in a rut. Christ has been minimized to our personal Savior. He is no longer the author of history, the ruler of all creation, and the redeemer his fallen people. No, he gets to live in our hearts. But not our cities, not our governments and most definitely not our churches.

Instead, Christians today have to ask themselves. 'Do I believe the Gospel truth that the Bible says- that God is ruler of all creation, and has already won history, and his rule is over ALL things?' or 'Do I believe that Christ is my personal Savior, allowed to come out only on Sundays, but maybe not even then, because he is just relative anyways?'

Alright, so I'm a little irritated. But let's think about this. The North American church is shrinking, not growing. We sit in a comfortable society, where we can have all that we could ever want and need, and as long as our faith is kept in its own box, we can avoid the persecution. No one wants to suffer for their beliefs. Guess what, God says its manditory. You must first die to yourself and to this world, before you can live for him. Take up your cross...

On Good Friday, God sent his only son to the cross to die not only for your sins, but to redeem every part of creation. On Easter, Christ rose from the dead and claimed victory over death itself. And now, we live in a time where God has called us to be witnesses. Soon, Pentecost will be upon us, when God poured out his Spirit so that the whole world may know the good news that the Kingdom is not coming, it is HERE!

(besides the point that Hillsong standing up there is very hypocritical and that the show is what its about, in this Easter season, the lyrics are appropriate.)



I know it's confusing, but we truly live at a crossroads between a perverted society and the supreme truth of Christ. Go ahead, tell the world.

Good, Good Friday

Jesus Before Pilate

²⁸Then the Jews led Jesus from Caiaphas to the palace of the Roman governor. By now it was early morning, and to avoid ceremonial uncleanness the Jews did not enter the palace; they wanted to be able to eat the Passover. ²⁹So Pilate came out to them and asked, "What charges are you bringing against this man?"

³⁰"If he were not a criminal," they replied, "we would not have handed him over to you."

³¹Pilate said, "Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law."

"But we have no right to execute anyone," the Jews objected. ³²This happened so that the words Jesus had spoken indicating the kind of death he was going to die would be fulfilled.

³³Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, "Are you the king of the Jews?"

³⁴"Is that your own idea," Jesus asked, "or did others talk to you about me?"

³⁵"Am I a Jew?" Pilate replied. "It was your people and your chief priests who handed you over to me. What is it you have done?"

³⁶Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place."

³⁷"You are a king, then!" said Pilate.
Jesus answered, "You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me."

³⁸"What is truth?" Pilate asked. With this he went out again to the Jews and said, "I find no basis for a charge against him. ³⁹But it is your custom for me to release to you one prisoner at the time of the Passover. Do you want me to release 'the king of the Jews'?"

⁴⁰They shouted back, "No, not him! Give us Barabbas!" Now Barabbas had taken part in a rebellion.
(John 18:28-40)

Jesus Sentenced to be Crucified

¹Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. ²The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe ³and went up to him again and again, saying, "Hail, king of the Jews!" And they struck him in the face.

⁴Once more Pilate came out and said to the Jews, "Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against him." ⁵When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate said to them, "Here is the man!"

⁶As soon as the chief priests and their officials saw him, they shouted, "Crucify! Crucify!"
But Pilate answered, "You take him and crucify him. As for me, I find no basis for a charge against him."

⁷The Jews insisted, "We have a law, and according to that law he must die, because he claimed to be the Son of God."

⁸When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid, ⁹and he went back inside the palace. "Where do you come from?" he asked Jesus, but Jesus gave him no answer. ¹⁰"Do you refuse to speak to me?" Pilate said. "Don't you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?"

¹¹Jesus answered, "You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin."

¹²From then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jews kept shouting, "If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar."

¹³When Pilate heard this, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judge's seat at a place known as the Stone Pavement (which in Aramaic is Gabbatha). ¹⁴It was the day of Preparation of Passover Week, about the sixth hour.
"Here is your king," Pilate said to the Jews.

¹⁵But they shouted, "Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!"
"Shall I crucify your king?" Pilate asked.
"We have no king but Caesar," the chief priests answered.

¹⁶Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified.

The Crucifixion

So the soldiers took charge of Jesus. ¹⁷Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha). ¹⁸Here they crucified him, and with him two others—one on each side and Jesus in the middle.

¹⁹Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read:|sc JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS. ²⁰Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek. ²¹The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, "Do not write 'The King of the Jews,' but that this man claimed to be king of the Jews."

²²Pilate answered, "What I have written, I have written."

²³When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom.

²⁴"Let's not tear it," they said to one another. "Let's decide by lot who will get it."
This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled which said,
"They divided my garments among them
and cast lots for my clothing."So this is what the soldiers did.

²⁵Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. ²⁶When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, "Dear woman, here is your son," ²⁷and to the disciple, "Here is your mother." From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.

The Death of Jesus

²⁸Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, "I am thirsty." ²⁹A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus' lips. ³⁰When he had received the drink, Jesus said, "It is finished." With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

³¹Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jews did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. ³²The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. ³³But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. ³⁴Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus' side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. ³⁵The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. ³⁶These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: "Not one of his bones will be broken," ³⁷and, as another scripture says, "They will look on the one they have pierced."

The Burial of Jesus

³⁸Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jews. With Pilate's permission, he came and took the body away. ³⁹He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds.^d]">[d] ⁴⁰Taking Jesus' body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. ⁴¹At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. ⁴²Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.
(John 19-entire chapter)

"You know just how far the East is from the West- one scarred hand to the other."
-Casting Crowns

Celebrities and Charities

Chantel Kreviazik was at Redeemer!

The complete story can be found here.

For Your Enjoyment

This is a tribute to Redeemer's Coffeehouse. The videos you are about to watch are the last acts of this year's last Coffeehouse of the season.

Guitar: Nate Smit
Keyboards: Kyle Reid
Bongos: Brent Schinkel
Drums: Devon Forbes
Vocals/Rapping: Hendrik Vlaar
Shakers: Julia Bokma

Part One.



Part Two



What a fantastic end to a great year!

Friday Night

Two things to say tonight.

1) There is a Mosquito in mine and Kristi's room. I didn't even know these things were alive again already. Flipping Global Warming.

2) I am at home on a Friday Night doing homework. Oh, how I hate paper season. This blog entry and doing my dishes shall be my break. Yay.

Kristi's Dating Advice.

My room mate decided she had the best dating advice today. It's the 'no-surprises' method. Basically, she figures, she's not going to shave her legs. Because that way, when the time comes around that she actually needs to have her legs shaved, you know, for a banquet, or for the summer, or church (all those skirts in the summer) the boyfriend would actually appreciate it.

She decided that in order for him to not be surprised, but appreciated, she would be straight up disgusting when it comes to common hygiene (like shaving your legs...and I'm sure that armpits would fall under the category as well). I feel her method is good.

Except for one consideration.

First you have to catch the guy.

So, ladies. Here's what I offer.

I think, that in order to get the guy, be yourself. Shower every morning, shave your legs all the time. Get your hair done, and take care of yourself. This way, you'll catch one! However, once you've got him hooked with your dazzling wits, your beautiful face, and your amazing personality, let the hair grow. And ladies, I mean, let it grow. Don't shave it, don't pluck it, don't even wax it. And then, no surprises.

I feel like this could turn into a good episode of HIMYM!