Pictures from Canada are finally in!

My first attempt at posting photos...here goes. Pictures from our trip to Canada to see Jenn and Josh get married....I know, it was few months ago now, but I just got the film developed yesterday.


What a welcome to Canada, eh? After overnight driving, being pulled over by a state trooper in some kind of a pick-up, several potty-stops, and a $12.60 toll in NY, this was a welcome view! (Not to mention the plethora of Tim Horton's, and being able to buy gas by the litre again!)The Falls were icy, and we had ice chunks raining down on our faces, but that didn't stop Bert from jumping out of the car to get a closer look!...Even Travis braved the ice in the face while the Canadian (aka me!)stayed in the heated car!
Just a little bit of sillyness, really. We made the guys in the table next to us laugh a little. Bert was being a Wendy's snob, though, and brought in food from 'away'....Subway I think it was. (She's the one taking the picture!)

Thought Tara would appreciate this one! (you can't see it very well because I haven't been able to crop it yet, but we passed through AYER'S Cliff...and got a pitcture to prove it!)

When we finally got to Toronto, we got to visit with Sue Ann...always a joy! (chats until 3am, tea with my grandad, HardRock Cafe lunch, overlooking the circus elephants, adventures for Arnaults' originals, 614 Toronto, dinner with my dad....good fun!)
On the way back to Bangor we stopped to see my cousin, Laura. But sadly, there are no photos of us with her, or getting lost in Montreal...actually, that's probably a good thing! Stay tuned tomorrow, for the adventures of Bert Heidi and Aurora in Bar Harbor!

What are you DOing, Aurora?

I'm preparing to do a walk in September to support Breast Cancer research along with my two cousins. ALl three of us lost family members to cancer, so it's good to honour our family in this way together, fight for a cause together, and hang out for a few days. I don't have all the hook-ups, so if you want to know more, just check out Kristen or Laura's blogs on the right here.

I'm renovating one of the rooms in my apartment, to turn it into a righteous place of prayer. Bought all the supplies a few days ago, now I just have to get to work putting it all together....before and after photos will be up eventually!

I'm writing songs, I'm reading the Bible. (I've never actually read it from cover to cover, so the challenge is to finish it before the end of the summer....I think I'm at the half-way mark at the moment)

I'm hanging out with people more. In the soup kitchen and at my house. I want to drop in on more people at their homes, so any invites are more than welcome! (plus I love trying other people's cooking!)

I'm learning what it is to submit more.
I'm learning what it is to dream more.
I'm learning what it is to share more.
I'm learning what it is to listen more.
I'm learning what it is to love more.
God is GOOD.

Identity Crisis

It breaks my heart to see how so many people in North America struggle with their identity. We try constantly to conform to the expectations the world puts on us, our parents, the supermodels, the commercials, the thousands of 'good causes' trying to vie for our money and our time and our empathy, our friends and teachers. Growing up I was constantly told to "get my priorities straight", but at the same time every class I went to seemed to be demanding 120% effort in order to make the grade. A lot of times the results of my efforts didn't seem to match up with the outcome...a project I had sweated over for weeks came back with barely a 60 grade, where a test I hadn't even studied for would come back with a 98. I'd see friends who worked three jobs just to pay for tuition sitting beside students whose parents had paid their way and were wasting their education on parties and social clubs. I'd see completely capable and talented individuals completely miserable because of something someone said about them some time ago. At the same time, I'd see people struggling so hard to do well, and going virtually unnoticed. Sometimes it seemed as if the only way to get noticed was to be utterly and impossibly perfect, or utterly and impossibly horrible. I saw a lot of people snap under the pressure to be perfect, and a lot of people turn to foolishness just to get noticed. I was nearly one of them.

In Vancouver, there is a prayer room where we lift up the Name of the LORD every day. Just as I am one person who has different roles, so the LORD has different names by which He is called. By unwrapping a different aspect of His character, we are gaining a closer perspective of who God is, and it's suprising! I know for me personally, when I prayed to God, I was always praying to the crucified Christ. Christ who died for my sins and the sins of the world, Christ nailed to a cross. But in praying through the different names of the LORD, there were days where I was invited to look at the resurrected Christ, in all His glory and power and strength. Other times, I look to Jesus my Lover, or Jesus the Shepherd, or Jesus the Judge. All of these characteristics encompass who God is and who He has revealed Himself to be, although He is contained by none of them.

The cool thing about praying His Name, is that it reminds me of who I am in HIM as well; If Christ is my Lover, than I am loved. If Christ is my Shepherd, than I am led and protected by his staff. If Christ is my Judge, than I will be judged in fairness and righteousness, because those are also attributes of His character, and if that is not a comfort to me, then I return to Jesus my Lover and remember that He also judges in love. I don't have to try to be perfect, because my God has already made perfect forever those who He is making holy (Hebrews 10:14). All I have to do is listen to what He's asking of me today and remain obedient to what I know in my soul to be right and true as I grow in Him.

Songs of Praise
Isaiah 12

In that day you will say:

"I will PRAISE you, Yahweh!
Although you were angry with me,
your anger has turned away
and you have COMFORTED me.

2 Surely GOD is my SALVATION.
I will TRUST and NOT BE AFRAID.
YAHWEH, the LORD is my STRENGTH and my song;
He has become MY SALVATION!"

3 With JOY you will draw water from the
WELLS of SALVATION.

4 In that day you will say:

"Give THANKS to the LORD,
CALL ON HIS NAME!
MAKE KNOWN AMONG THE NATIONS WHAT HE HAS DONE
AND PROCLAIM THAT HIS NAME IS EXALTED!"
5 SING to the LORD,
for he has done GLORIOUS things;
let this be known to ALL THE WORLD!

6 SHOUT aloud and SING FOR JOY PEOPLE OF ZION,
for great is the HOLY ONE of Israel among you!

Caper.

Sandwich Caper was a success! We sold a whole bunch of sandwiches, dropped a few on the floor (which we ate....we never sell dirty goods!) I was on tv a few times, and had newscasters following my car as we did drop offs to a few hungry businesses...(anyone who has ever driven with me knows that having a tv crew following me on the road is probably not the best idea, but we had no mishaps anyway!) Alberta and Emily slept over and we had mad-crazy fun watching games and playing movies....or, PLAYING games and WATCHING movies....looks like I'm needing some sleep after all! Early mornings and late nights do a number on the mind workings!
It also looks as if I'll be adding a new kitty to my family of one soon, so I hope Denise likes cats, too. Gotta keep this short, and try to fit a nap in before Powerhouse tonight. Later, friends! Much Love.

My mom is flying back to Canada as I type. My fridge is stocked, I have new shoes that won't cut into my feet and give me insanely huge blisters, I now have FOUR chairs for my table, and spices to cook food with.....and a coffee maker....and Tim Horton's coffee (is there any other kind? No, I didn't think so! Honestly, Tim Horton's is the best!) It was so good having her here, especially seeing how my new corps family welcomed her and opened up to her. The people here have so much love to give, it's pretty amazing. I just keep hearing this verse buzzing around in my head, "Don't stop meeting together as some are in the habit of doing, but ENCOURAGE one another, BUILDING EACHOTHER up in the faith..." or something along those lines...I can't find the right wording right now, but if anyone wants to take a stab at it, you're more than welcome!

"I Know"

I like to argue. I always have. I've always thought I 'knew' all the answers, and was frustrated when people wouldn't tell me I was right, or wouldn't listen to my precious jewels of insight.
When I was a kid, and my mom tried to tell me something, I'd always interrupt with an emphatic "I know." If my brother tried to tell me how to sweep the floor, explaining it over and over again, I'd sit there nodding, "I know. You told me already yesterday." But I think the main thing of that was that although I may have theoretically known how to sweep a floor properly in my head, or known that if you run around in the grass barefoot it's possible you might step on a bee and get stung, that didn't stop me from doing the thing I wanted when I wanted how I wanted.
The thing is, arguing your own way and saying things like "I know" can go ignored for a little while if you're a kid, or if you have something that's incredibly important to say. But I often fall into the trap of arguing just for arguments' sake. That's not a good thing. Learn to pick your battles, Aurora....yes, some precious jewels of wisdom maybe I should take to heart once in a while!
My mom's visiting for Easter. (Totally loving the late night chats and tea and overall niceness of living with another person again, if only for three days!)I got an eyebrow piercing. (It hurt. Heidi held my hand. Bert laughed.)Enough about me. Time to celebrate Jesus.

I just finished reading through the book of Hosea....all about God's people having an adulterous heart, and His response to them...to be husband to his adulterous bride despite all her faults...."I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her"...to lead her back in a place where she will remember her first love.
That's where I am....the desert.
That's what I am...the adultress.
That's who I am....His beloved bride!

No Fences

Saturday I went to hike a mountain in Monson. It was definitely worthy of Danielle, so the next time she comes to Maine I'll have to take her there. It's about a three-and-a-half hour hike with two summits and a pond, full of rocks and trees, and all sorts of other stuff. Actually, about half of the trail is climbing rock, but I'm told this still only counts as a 'hike' and is nowhere near what actual rock climbing is....still, when you're on the top of the summit with no fences to stop you from falling, it's a little disturbing/breathtaking. Mainers seem to trust their people more than Ontarians or British Columbians...when it comes to nature. I forgot how much I loved being in the woods with friends....and how much I had become dependant on fences in my life.
All the trails I've ever been on in Canada have huge fenced off areas laid out that have been deemed 'dangerous', or if you go to Lynn Valley, you'll find a bridge who's sides come up to your armpits, so there's no way you can fall into the ravine unless you were trying really hard. In Maine, it's nothing like that. You have trees marked in the woods showing the best way up, and one or two iron rods embedded into the rock to help you get over the most dangerous parts....interesting.
I know for some people the Ten Commandments seem like a huge barrier to living their lives, but I like to think of them as fences...markers that point out where the dangerous slopes are in life. Some people crash into the fences, trying to see what's on the other side, other people leap over them and get hurt really bad for their stupidity....other people lean over the fences to pull out the people who jumped over and got hurt and now want to come back to the safe side. Which kind of people are you?

I'm learning Sacred Dance with Deb. It's fun.
Travis is going to be a new Yorker in a sketch for Sunday. It's hilarious.

random life

Today it snowed a little. And rained a little. It was more like a wet slushy rain-snow-glob kind of day. A good day to be inside....very much so! Saw a few good movies lately; V for Vendetta, and Medea's Family Reunion....totally different, totally excellent movies.
Saturday was a super-long day, and suprisingly interesting...we had a leadership conference in New Hampshire, which meant 5;30am departure (if you've read my last blog, you'd know that wasn't a big deal for me!)...Alberta slept over at my place, and I harrassed Mary all day about helium balloons...I don't think she was very impressed.
I was going to go look at kittens last night, but my brother suggested I get something more simple to care for -like a plant- first. Wise words, wise words. So I'm officially pet-less for a while. God is good.