Quest for Mitts...

If you’ve been paying attention during the last couple months, you will have noticed that it is almost impossible to walk down the street without seeing someone wearing a red pair of Olympic mittens. Now I’m usually not one for bandwagons, but I can actually see no down side to hopping on this one. Red is a nice color, you’re showing support for our country’s Olympic team, they’re affordable, you’ve got an Olympic souvenir, and your hands are kept nice and toasty! So this week I went on a quest to find a pair of Olympic mittens. It proved MUCH more difficult than expected.

There are three places you can go to buy such a pair of mittens in Canada. The Bay, Zellers, and Home Outfitters. So my first stop was The Bay. I stepped up to the counter and asked the lady if there were any more in stock. She looked at me and gave a sad little chuckle and then said “Honey. We’re all out. We’ve been all out for weeks. There aren’t any mittens left at any Bay in this city.” To which I said… “Will you be getting any more in?” She shook her head sadly. Strike one.

Next it was off to Home Outfitters. I didn’t even get through the door. Posted outside the store was a sign that said “ATTENTION SHOPPERS All HBC stores across Winnipeg are currently sold out of Red Olympic Mittens. Sorry for the inconvenience. –Management” I refused to be discouraged. It was off to Zellers.

I stepped in a Zellers and asked if they had any Olympic mittens. I was met with a sad shake of the head. “All sold out. Have been for a while.” I was beginning to potentially begin to think about accepting defeat. That was when I heard a voice behind me. “Are you looking for Olympic mittens?” I turned around and saw a young mother pushing her son in a stroller. She continued, “My mother in law was at the Zellers on Henderson Highway yesterday, and she said they got a huge unexpected shipment in yesterday afternoon. I bet if you hurry there would still be some there.” I thanked her and immediately headed to the Zellers on Henderson Highway. And they had some! The search was over!

What did I learn from this? “Never, never, never, never give up.” – Winston Churchill

Reading makes me think about other things...

God strips himself bare and comes as a man with no possessions, no reputation, no 'wow factor.' Why? Because we humans love a good show. We love celebrities for their style. We love politicians for their policies. We love athletes for their ability to perform. And there's nothing wrong with that. But God didn't want to be perceived by his creation, by his people, as yet another public figure. Love reduced to appeal of the eye and the mind was not the kind of love he was looking for. He wanted us to fall in love with HIM. Just HIM. Nothing else. Not the package, not the presentation. Simply who he was. So he stripped himself down. He stripped himself of his glory because he knew people couldn't handle it. He didn't want people to fall in love with the 'wow.' He didn't want us to fall in love with yet another show. I love the most basic God who ever offered himself to man kind and live according to a very basic truth. I love my father and the father loves me. No show here.

Taste of Sante Fe.

So the BUGirl teams are about to head out on the road. It is a matter of weeks now, and everyone's beginning to count down. The two teams have been living together for the last couple months, so being separated is going to be quite a change. I never thought I'd be used to sharing a kitchen with 12 other people, having an open door bedroom policy, and coordinating the schedules of 12 other people. But I will miss it when we hit the road again.

Because our time together is short, the BUG house has been a place where last minute bonding is taking place almost 24/7. The last week has been a whirlwind of working out together, making meals together, bunking up in each others beds, late night talks, team devos and reading time, etc etc etc. Last night was no exception.

Myself and Natalie Elliott decided to hang out with Jillian Michaels right after work, and she kicked our butts, in a good way. (google Jillian Michaels if you're confused...) After shredding it up we decided a good meal was in order. We researched sweet salads, and made a special trip to Sobeys to create the best Sante Fe Salad known to man. Some may call it epic. The meal came to a close with cheesecake fondu. And yes. It was as good as it sounds. The rest of the evening was filled with music, kitchen dance parties, cleaning bathrooms, reading...etc.

I am having a hard time imagining what life will be like without these kinds of evenings. I will definitely miss them when we hit the road.

Intimacy is honesty
Without fear or rejection.
Why is it that I know
You are infinitely aware of my thoughts,
My inner conflict,
My fear, feeling, frustrations.
Yet I shy away from speaking them
To you, directly.
It is that honesty
That I withhold because somehow
My thoughts seem wrong.
Unjustified, infantile, lacking.
To me they tell me to do more,
Try more, be more, bring more.
....
Come alongside me.
Teach me.
Be in me.
I am not enough.
I am not efficient.
But you are made perfect
When I fail.
You turn my embarrassments
Into acts I am in awe of.
I can't understand or predict you.
You are uncomprimisingly good to me.
You take delight in me.
You love me in my honesty.

A day in the life...

7:30 - Wake up in Thunder Bay
8:30 - Get taken out for breakfast in Thunder Bay. Eat eggs, toast, hashbrowns, and ham. Yummmmm. Got to watch a three year old play with Thomas the Tank Engine in the Restaurant, then ride around the restaurant on a tricycle. Pretty stellar start to a day I'd say...
10:00 - On the road.
10:10 - Stop at Kakabekka Falls. B-e-a-utiful. (Continue Driving)
11:00 - Wake up and realize it's snowing. Don't even care because that obviously means we're getting closer to Winnipeg...
2:00 - Stop for Lunch... Tims. Good.
4:00 - Re-enter MB. Flat never looked so good.
5:00 - Realize we get an hour back because of the time difference in MB and ON.
5:01 - Realize we get ANOTHER hour back because of daylight savings :)
6:00 - Arrive in Winnipeg! Team finally goes loopy in the van. Natalie's (E) been talking in a crazy voice all day, Binder joins in, Katelyn starts hitting herself in the head with various items before bursting into hysterical laughter, windows get rolled down and various team members begin to yell. We were just happy to be home I guess?
6:30 - Go grocery shopping. Run into parents in the candy aisle. WHAT? Yeah it's true.
7:00 - Get to BUG HOUSE!
8:00 - Decide trick or treating is in order.
9:00 - Pull in outrageous loot from East St. Paul and surrounding areas.
Turning in early. Three days of driving takes something outta ya.

Sacrifice and Perspective

There are a lot of things I could write about at the moment, but I'll stick to one simple truth for now. I've been thinking a lot about the idea of sacrifice, and trusting God with ALL things, and acknowledging that perhaps I on my own am simply not enough to do the things he has asked me to do. And I realized that all of these things that I've been thinking about, and wrestling with, and to be compeltely honest, feeling a bit sorry for myself over, make a lot more sense when you look at them from a different perspective.

My life isn't mine. It's that simple.

"So here's what I want you to do, GOd helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life- your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life- and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you in the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you." (The Message Romans 12)

It's really that simple. In light of a perspective like that, my sacrifices aren't just managable, but they make perfect sense. And with a God like that, I can't help but be excited, expectant, and so filled with hope I don't know what to do with it all sometimes.

The Tale of Niagara Falls

Ever since I was a small girl, I have dreamed about seeing Canada's great Niagara Falls. And last week...that dream became a reality. I look back on the whole experience with mixed emotions. Because also, since I was a small girl, I have hated the feeling of being cold above all else. Well.. the only thing that I hate more than being cold, is being cold and wet.

It was a blistery Friday morning, and our team was ready to go bright and early. I was the only Niagara Falls newb of the group, and was trying to take it all in. The hoards of people in the tiny blue ponchos, being herded onto The Maid of the Mist, the roar of the boat engine, the beautiful falls that belong to the states passing slowly on the left, the even more beautiful sight of the not quite so far off Canadian falls approaching strait ahead... and this is where I stopped trying to take it all in.

Because at this point... all of the sudden all I could see was water. It turns out, that Maid of this Mist is actually code for Maid of the Sheets of Heavy Rain. And those blue ponchos they give you? Don't do much. I tried pinning it around my clothing every which way I could... to no avail. But then a funny thing happened. Once I realized that becoming wet and cold was inevitable... I just embraced it. And laughter has a way of warming you up...and trust me... our team did a lot of that. So even though I was feeling my boots fill to the brim with water, and my hair becoming drenched... I still enjoyed the falls... in a strange and very unlike me way. All in all... I don't think I'd trade in my first Niagara Falls experience for a dry one...but next time I'd definitely bring an umbrella...

Jessica