the home of facebook

aparently toronto is the home of facebook - e.g. more people are on facebook than anywhere else in the world (at this stage). but this morning, to my joy, it appears that facebook is beginning to crack australia. i now have a few friends who have discovered it. oh what a beautiful day. not that i really care, but it's nice and can be fun at times.

here's my two cents worth for may 31, 2007 - are you a smiley face or a straight face when walking down the street?
these days i do a lot more walking than i used to. a lot more. i like to smile at people when i walk past them. i don't always do it, but i like to. it's kind of like saying 'hello, we are part of this world together'. sometimes people smile back and sometimes they pretend they didn't really see you. or then there's the straight face. they stare straight ahead and your existance is completely ignored by them. i don't like it. but, it's a slap in the face because sometimes i do that too.
there are some situations, i feel, that require the straight face, though i know there are some that would disagree. but i also know others who hardly ever do the smile thing.

which one are you?

this week

thanks to clint, vanessa and shirl for commenting on my last blog! good to see who's reading the thoughts that i share with the world. to extend the story on my bites, this week i was finally eligible to get ontario health insurance. soi went in there on monday, filled in the forms, showed them my documents and great...nearly...till they ask me to stand with my back next to the white wall and want to take my picture!!! i couldn't help but laugh. now my health card will be a permanent reminder of the youth councils and for the next little while, i will have photo evidence (more) of my bites!!! as nana would say 'at least it gave them a laugh' (all the ladies at the counter when i expressed my joy of having my picture taken with the bites!)

it looks like the poll i posted has a convincing winner, most people think of the beach when they think of me! sweet. i can't be happier with the result. (though i did get to choose all the answers, so it' a little biased to begin with).

this week the weather has been great. i've been out exercising everyday (i got new running shoes last week - thank goodness - i've been meaning to get new running shoes since i left home in march '06...).

so from this post things seem like a pretty ordinary week. well, it is. but that's nice. things have been so crazy recently. this weekend is shaping up tp be busy. we have a garage sale at the office on saturday and then off to see hillsong united on saturday night (whom daz actually boarded onto their flight the other day).

there are a few wedding things that need to get done asap too. so i am slowly working on those!

last weekend

i spent last weekend with the ignite team at the ontario east youth together. we had a great time and the weather was way better than last year. clint houlbrook (editor/publisher/the man for www.sendthefire.ca ) was the guest speaker (and a friend of ine - it was good to see him) and drew brown and his band lead worship.

now, the weekend was good, except i got bitten by a spider? (this is still up for debate) in my sleep on friday night so i woke up saturday with

3 massive big red swollen lumps on my face (and maybe a few little ones aswell). my little biting friend, whatever it was, made it's way up, or maybe down, the left side of my face! thanks very much. i think they have gone down since then, but are still kind of big. check out this really attractive picture of myself to see what i mean! remember - it's very unattractive!

hopefully you aren't eating or anything.

i have to head out to the post office now. i will have to walk. i am relegated to walking for the entire month of may while my ontario drivers license get's processed! hopefully by this friday...i have to take a road test! then i can drive again! YAY!

enjoy the sunshine. and don't worry if you can't where you are - i will for us all!

Sadie

Matt drying off Sadie after her bath.

Matt and his little girl
Sadie having a drink

Last night as Matt was walking me home, we heard this little 'meow'. This tiny tiny little kitten came out from under a parked car and sat at our feet. What were we supposed to do? Leave it there?

So Matt picked it up (I wouldn't - it's a cat!). And we carried it back to my house. Matt then wanted to keep it. (note - he has sworn black and blue to me that we are never allowed to/going to have pets...). I named her Sadie. We tried to give her some milk, only a little interested. But then we gave her some tuna, and she scoffed it down. She was SO SKINNY, she must have been starving. Then Matt gave her a bath. She was pretty stinky and scungy.

He took her home, but then decided to take her down the road to the humane society. He left her there. And when he rang to tell me, he was so sad. Poor Matt. He's convinced that the only love Sadie had ever received in her life was from him. Maybe it's true.

So he left her there but has said that in a few days he's going back and if she's still there, he's going to take her home!

We'll see...

By the way today is a beautiful sunny 26 degrees in Toronto! YAY!

growing old gracefully

i was appalled last night stumble on a tv program that was all about an anti aging conference. now, while the main guy seemed to be promote good things, healthy eating, exercise and proper sleep as a means to aging well, he then went on to discuss and promote the ideas of anti-aging medicine.
i (roughly) quote him (should have paid more attention to get his name) 'it's good and well to say that you want to grow old gracefully, but that's a defeatist attitude, and i'm not a defeatist'
i couldn't believe my ears.
now, call me old fashioned, but i think that growing old gracefully actually takes more effort, self control and discipline that this guy will ever have. we are all created to be who we are. one of the spokespersons said 'everyone should feel as good as i do, everyone should wake up and smile and have energy'. well, yes, of course they should. but they also shouldn't be pressured into trying to look 20 when they are 35 or trying to look 30 when they are 60. there's nothing wrong with growing old, that's what we are meant to do.
i love the dove campaign that's out right now. the one with the women who are 'too old to be in an anti-aging commercial but that's ok because they are not'. it's the pro age campaign.
as my mum always has said 'your age is what you make it'. my sister just turned 30 on the weekend, and someone said 30 is the new 20. and in one sense it is. people are longer constrained by age-stereotypes, in my opinion.
don't get me wrong, it's not like i can't wait to go grey and get all wrinkly, but i am not going to let that stop me from living a full life. only God can give me that. i already know that my nearly 28 year old body is not the same as my 22 year old body (and that's only 4 years ago...). so deal with it.
however, this one thing i urge you all, grow old gracefully, and that means naturally. do all you can to look after yourself. eat well, exercise and sleep well. and most importantly, love life and have fun. and remember as someone wise once told me 'your age is what you make it'.
have a fun day - whatever age you are.

Happy 30th Kezza

Today is kezza's 30th birthday - hence the reason for my quick trip to seattle. last night we had a masquerade ball which featured dinner, a quiz by me, a ballroom dance instructor, a mask judging contest, cake and more dancing. all in all a great night.

see for yourself...just a few pics

kezza cutting her cakes...(proud mum looking on)

christie and jonas

dad (looking a little less scary with the mask off)

mumma
hil and daniel...

some of the dancing (notice far right - kez and daniel)
stacy and rob

i love new york city

i am back in toronto now. but i can't stress how much i love new york city. it's so fantastic. we spent all day saturday downtown. we arrived at the world trade centre subway stop. that was moving. reading the tributes. i blinked back the tears, still not really being able to imagine what it would have been like. it was moving. from there we went to chinatown (canal street) - i loved it, then to central park - i loved it, then to times square - i loved it, then to soho/noho - i loved it. one fantastic place was in soho, it is called rice to riches on spring st, they had about 20 flavours of rice pudding and they come in cute reusable containers (even if grace thinks the design is flawed...). i got caramel and loved it so much, when we went back on sunday, i went there again! don't miss it.
the scottish in me came out, with my scottish (now new yorker) friend mhairi. we saw this one, good lookign well dressed guy handing out free maybeline lip gloss, so we all got one. then i heard the guy say there were 16 of them out in the city. mhairi and i went on a hunt, which meant looking on the next few street corners and managed to get ourselves 17 free lipglosses. we were so excited. (n.b. i am only keeping 4 in my possession - the rest i have already given, or am planing to give, away).
sunday we went back in and went to a few of the same places (we were split up on saturday and not everyone got to see the things i did) and we also went to steve and barry's shoe store and also watched the most intense game of (wall) handball i have ever seen - guys diving on concrete...
to sum oup - I LOVE NEW YORK!
i've noticed the length of my blogs has been on the longer side recently, so i will stop for today. but stay tuned...i have more adventures coming...tomorrow i have to be at the airport at 5am...

new york, new york and answered prayer

i am blogging from new york - this is a first. we drove here from toronto on monday. the trip was good. heather and i sang a lot of the way - i am sure the igniters loved every second of it. we stopped at niagara falls on the way, which, by the way, everyone pronounces ni-ag-ra, not how it's spelt, i have taken it upon myself to correct the world and am now pronouncing it ni-a-gar-a, as it should be. please join me in my efforts. anyway, we stopped there and if you have read my blog before, you'd know my feelings towards these falls, yet i came to appreciate them in a new way, as this time i actually went to where the water actually gushes over the edge. now i found that pretty amazing. kind of crazy actually. so, i have a new appreciation for the falls. don't be confused though, i will not be making any attempt to visit them anytime soon, if it's up to me.

so we've been in new york now for a few days now. we are visiting our friends at project 1:17, a youth training program run at the school for officer training here in NY. i have learnt some things and had some thinking provoked. that's good. not the time to blog about these. that may or may not happen. wait and see...

one thing i have been reminded of is how God answers prayer. i used to think people who said 'be careful what you pray for' were a little loopy. but i now know they were wise. however, sometimes it's better to pray in ignorance. three big prayers i have prayed over the last few years include:
- that i would go anywhere and do anything that God wanted me to do. obviously over the last year, God has only just begun to answer that prayer...and i believe He's going to keep answering that one for the rest of my life.
- that i would find a strong Christian husband. well, that one has well and truly been answered. matt is at least as strong (and stubborn...oh oh) as i am. ok, so i give that we aren't yet married, but seeing as it's less than 5 months away, i'm going with that.
- that if God wanted me to become a Salvation Army officer, then i only would if i was married and my husband and i were called to it. tick. God got me on that one too!
God does answer prayers. like i said, i have been praying the three above, literally, for years. sometimes it takes time and it always takes faith. so i add myself to those wise people who will tell you, be careful what you pray for. on the odd occassion, i think to myself, why did i pray those prayers, as all of them have some drawbacks at times. but seriously, i wouldn't take back a single one of those prayers, i wouldn't have it any other way.

a productive day

once again the sun is shining in toronto, though i am still waiting for it to get a little warmer, this is a good thing.

today i went for a run and this was the first time in a long time that i just wore t-shirts and shorts. sweet. and i run a lot further that i have in a while. then i came home and cut both steph and grace's hair. then i just spent the last (nearly) 2 hours tutoring at the somali tutor group we do here at the office. now i am about to go and buy a bridesmaids dress. not for me, but for michelle for my wedding.

did i mention i am going to new york on monday? a few weeks ago we had the guys from project 1:17 come to visit us and this coming week we are going to visit them. i am hoping it's going to be a great time. and we get to spend at least one day in the big apple. i love new york city. heather's coming with me and the team, and sean too. then she's only got a week till she'll be off to australia. she got her visa this week, so will be heading to melbourne to work for dave.

hope it's a sunny day where you.

did you fill in my new poll question yet?

new poll

see to the left...i have a new quiz. please take it. even if you don't know me personally, you know my writing, so just choose.

i want to tell you that yesterday as i was walking to matt's house, i saw a woman walking down the footpath (sidewalk for the north americans) wearing a helmet. no bike. just walking along wearing the helmet. hmmm.

speaking of helmets...yesterday was my first day back on the bike. the motorbike that is. well, as a passenger. matt's bike is up and running, and he didn't even have to get new battery as feared. i was on it again today. and learnt a huge lesson. things aren't always what they seem. looking out the window, or even standing outside in a sheltered spot in the sun, you would have thought it was a beautiful warm sunny day. but riding the bike. WHOLE DIFFERENT STORY. it was freezing. like to the point where we went back to my house just so i could put on a warmer jumper and my big jacket.

things aren't always what they seem.

i am thankful that the sun shines. it really does make me happy.

sorry this isn't going to be any longer, grace is leading bible study tonight and it starts in 2 mins. got to go.

Human Trafficking + more

One of the passions that is growing in my heart is about the issue of human trafficking. Over the past little while, this passion has been growing, and slowly, yet surely, I am getting more informed. And you know what, there's only so much you can know before you either give up, or get to the action stage. I am thankful that God has given me this desire and I am reaching the action stage.
Just last month, I was supposed to attend The Salvation Army's conference on Human Trafficking Awareness, but then I came down with the stomach flu (see earlier blogs if you really want more information). Most disappointing was that I missed Victor Malarek, author of the book 'The Natashas' that I recently read.
On other fronts, I have seen two provocative/inspiring movies/documentaries that are related to these issues. The first was Amazing Grace. The story of William Wilberforce and his 20 year battle to abolish slavery. The second, I watched this afternoon. It's called 'Born into Brothels'. A documentary about children born into the brothels in Calcutta, India and the work of one woman to try and do something about what she found.
For anyone, interested in the issue or not, I would highly recommend and plead with you to read The Natashas and watching both Amazing Grace and Born into Brothels. At the least, your eyes will be opened.
As with anything, with this passion that is growing within me, I felt the need to start in my own backyard, in the words of maria 'a very good place to start'. I know the names of some of the working girls on the street where I live and work. But that is not enough. I need to do more. I need to have real relationships with them. So after praying and asking God for an opportunity, I got won (as I always say, be careful what you ask God for). I almost didn't take it, but I knew I had to. And I pray that this is just the beginning.
God, give me the courage, the wisodm and the perserverance to not just be a consumer of information, but an activator of change.