He is the season....

I don't know about you but I am so excited for Christmas - it is totally my favorite time of year for so many reasons. The past few mornings right when the alarm clock goes off I roll over and say to my husband "Only __ sleeps left till Christmas" And he just smiles (he doesn't get as excited as I do) I have been thinking this year a lot about the holidays and how they affect me and the way the world views them (the holidays). I love the holidays for the obvious reasons like the time spent with family, all the good Christmas goodies and food, I love receiving gifts and trying to guess what people bought me but more than that I love buying and giving gifts. For myself I give myself a budget of how much I will spend on each person and then I try not to go over it but its so hard cause I just love buying my loved ones things to show them tangible how much I love them. I am reminded that this season is all because of Him. He is the season!! We often hear especially in Christian settings that "Jesus is the reason for the season" but the truth is Jesus is the season... for without his infant birth their would be no season. We see in his birth the greatest gift of love for He (Christ) entered our earth story so we can find ourselves in His love story. What a Christmas gift is that!

We can not ignore the fact that this Christmas their will be some celebrating maybe without a loved once present or maybe with heavy hearts due to illness or financial burdens, maybe job loose but no one this Christmas should be celebrating without Hope. My prayer this Christmas is that I find Christ in a new and real way in my own life that I don't forget the truth and grace found in His birth and what my life has because of that birth.

Yes I am exhausted - it feels like this fall and especially November and December have been busy months for me but I have joy. Yes I am excited for 2010 and yet there is that sense of mystery as to what God has in store for me in the new year. There is a peace I have that even in the busyness of this week that peace is calming. Lets remember the Season for what it is and may we in turn shine Christ's love and the hope He gives to everyone around us.

Merry Christmas to you and your families and may your holidays be ever blessed!

So tired....

I am so exhausted and its only Thursday. This week has been so busy for me and today is a super long day which will involved all day in the office and tonight dinner and a client event our firm is hosting so it will be a late night. I found these 5 "excuses" to use when you fall asleep on your desk at work and it gave me a good laugh today.

5. "They told me at the Blood Bank this might happen."
4. "This is just a 15 minute power nap they raved about in the time-management course you sent me to!"
3. Whew! Guess I left the top off the White-out. You probably got here just in time!"
2. "Did you ever notice sound coming out of these keyboards when you put your ear down real close?"
1. (Raising your head slowly) "...in Jesus' name, Amen."

I think I may even use some of them!! Not really but I feel like I could use a 15 min power nap. I am definitely looking forward to Christmas even more now that life is so busy and I am hardly seeing any of my husband but alot more busyness (is that even a word) before Christmas which I guess will help it come quickly but I dont want it to come too quickly because just like that it will all be over and then I have to wait another 365 for it to come again.

On a personal note God has been teaching me some cool things in my devotions from Psalm 23. What a famous and very popular passage of scripture but oh how I have missed so much good stuff that is found in it. I love how the Lord can teach you and reteach you new things each time we allow Him to and we spend time in His word. I will blog soon I hope (if I get a spare moment) and share a bit what I have learnt 1. for my own personal record I love to look back on what I've learnt and
2. maybe someone reading this will learn something too or be blessed by something I have learnt

For you that care and have been asking my bedroom furniture arrived today for California so this weekend I will get my bedroom finally put together and our basement is being muded as we speak so hopefully the basement will be done by Christmas then I can finally post pictures of my house.

Oh and because I have forgotten I also a couple weeks ago got my first and maybe it will only be my one and only ever, blog award. Thanks Callie it made my day and I know I need to do what you said to accept the award or whatever you do in the blogging world.... its so silly that we or maybe its just me that gets excited about stuff like that. but its the little things in life we must not forget to enjoy.

Hope all my American friends have recouped from your Thanksgiving festivities and you all are having a great week.

A couple things....

I know some of you are asking for pictures of my new house - I promise to upload some once I get all my new furniture delivered so of which is coming from California so it is taking a bit longer. Let me say I am sorry I haven't been blogging we don't have the Internet at our house set up yet and I have been so swamped at work with us changing firms and everything that blogging has sadly taken the "backseat" so to say but that is not to say I haven't been reading all of yours because I do read them on my blackberry its just hard to type a post on it.

The real reason for this post is simply to say HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL MY AMERICAN BLOGGING FRIENDS! I hope you all have a fantastic Thanksgiving spent with family and friends eating good food and remembering all we have to be thankful for. I can't believe Christmas is just around the corner - it really is. I have slowly unboxed my Christmas decorations and I am having fun deciding how I want to decorate my house with them. OH I am looking forward to Christmas so much this year. It is always my favorite time of year but this year I am especially looking forward to celebrating it in my own home and especially looking forward to our trip to the states shopping because I am in desperate need of new clothing (ok Im not going around naked or anything but come on girls you know how it is when you haven't bought new clothes in sooooooo long) and I am looking forward to lots of time with family eating delicious Christmas baking and especially time to rest. The past few months have been so busy for me and my husband and with him working the night shift right now it makes out time together very limited so I am looking forward to having him to myself over the holiday.

So my American friends enjoy your Thanksgiving holidays, its kinda like a preChristmas special to get you in the mood for the Christmas holidays!

Busy Busy Busy.... Novemeber Already!

Well as if the title doesn't give it away, I have been busy busy busy! I guess I should say I've been moving, moving, moving. Both at work and at home. My company (that I work for) is in the middle of changing firms and so the last 2 weeks especially has been crazy doing paper work and legal stuff and on top of that when I get home in the evenings I've been packing packing for our move this weekend into our house!! Can I say FINALLY!! We bought our house back in June and actually closed the beginning of October but due to a difficult pregnancy with the previous owners of our house they couldn't get out until this week so we graciously let them stay but I am so anxious for them to get out so I can get in - Into my first house! I'm so excited and so is my husband but I am soooo tired. I wish I could report my extreme exhaustion is because I am pregnant but yet again its not. My stress levels are so high right now, I am having crazy sleepless night and have had 2 friends announce their pregnancy as well as 2 friends deliver their babies and my heart is happy for them yet it breaks all the same. My husband and I were out doing some running around this weekend when he looked at a little santa's costume for a newborn and looked at me and said "I can't wait till we have babies of our own" and man I melted. He knows how badly I want a baby and I always knew he wanted kids but I didn't realize he thought about it as often as he does. I am so thankful that I have a great husband and that we have each other. I do not take that for granted, not one day do I, but I would love for us to share in creating a family, but all in God's time right. I was talking to a friend the other day who said "I can't wait to see what God has in store for this year". And I couldn't help but agree but in the same breath I don't want to rush this year by just to see what is in store. I want to savour each day as the gift it is. Besides its pretty exciting to finally be buying our first house and its exciting because its November now and you know what that means...I can start decorating for Christmas soon in my very own house! I am reminded yet again today "God is good all the time, All the time God is Good". You may be in a funk, you may be having the worst day ever, you may be on cloud 9 whatever your feeling today claim that promise and hold on to it!

If God is so good then why do bad things happen to good people?

An area in my life and walk with Christ that I have been struggling with is this whole area of "Bad things happening to Good people." I think growing up in a Christian family, attending christian schools and having a personal relationship with Christ I have always known that bad things happen to all of us, Christian or not, and that just because I follow and desire to be like Christ that doesn't mean my life will be easy. I think last Sept (2008) is when it really hit me that bad things really do happen to good people. When my friend's husband was killed instantly, a man that truly lived his life to glorify God and lead others to Him, a "good" person not just by my standards but by the worlds as well or in Oct of 2008 when my grandmother was taken by the evil and horrible disease of cancer. A lady who was a dedicated wife to a pastor,loving mom and grandmother a very faithful prayer warrior, a "good" person. I hear every day of little babies loosing their lives to illnesses and even in my own life there are areas where I am like why God are you allowing these bad things happen to me.

So I wanted to share a few things God has been teaching me in this whole journey to really see what my Bible and what God has to say about this question if you will.

*Remember I am no Bible scholar this is just from my heart and some of the things I've been learning*

1. Some of the harsh things we face are initiated by God who is simply enforcing justice.
2. Our choices have consequences.
3. God is not the creator of evil and suffering
3. Though suffering is not good God can and does use it to accomplish good.
4. God can use pain to draw us to Himself
5. God can use trails to sharpen the character of us
6. God disciplines His children to teach us the right path to take
7. God uses bad circumstances to bring about good ends
8. The day is coming when suffering will cease and evil will be judged
9. Any suffering we experience in this life pales in comparison with the good God has in store for us
10. We get to decide whether our pain is going to harder or soften us
11. God promises to walk with us in our pain and suffering if we only let Him.

Wow how God been streeeeetching and teaching me alot and I still have alot to learn but I hope that me sharing a bit will maybe help someone else out there who may be kinda asking God that same question. The only thing I know forsure is that my little brain will never learn and know all there is to know here on earth but oh what a happy day when I see my Creator face to face, I think then all my questions will be answered with just the look at His face.

"God is always good, always good IS God!!"

Monday already...

Well I know I said I would update daily with things Im thankful for so I think I missed three days so I have some making up to do, but in my defense not that I really need to defend myself after all it is my blog but anyways we have had a very very busy weekend filled with a wedding, birthday party and house paper signing!!

First thing today I am thankful for is Love.

I was asked to sing at my cousins wedding and I accepted the request so on Saturday I did so. It was a beautiful wedding. Weddings are so much fun. A great excuse to get dressed up, catch up with friends and family, watch two people embark on their new journey together and watch them commit themselves to each other before God. I am such a mushy person to - I just love LOVE (If that makes sense) I also received a special message from a friend late last night in which she finished by saying "I love ya " which just melted my heart. I love to be told I am loved. I think we all do. I am sad that the word "Love" gets over used all the time. It get thrown around like we love chocolate, we love our coach bag, we love Fall, ect I am just as guilty but when you truly love someone it changes you. It changes how you treat someone. Here are some pictures from our busy weekend.


Me singing at the wedding...


My super hot husband and I at the reception...


The newly married couple...



On Sunday we spent the day with my husbands family celebrating his Nana's 85th birthday. 85... I can't even imagin getting to that age but God has blessed her to live that long. It was a busy yet fun day spent with family. We ate so much delicious food and also got to go flying.



Here my brother in law and I are flying up over his house. Can I just restate someone I have said before - our God is such a creator. When your up in the sky you can see the tops of the trees and man it looks like a painted picture. It is literally breath taking. The view was so gorgeous!




I guess today I am also thankful for family, for life and for a new week. As much as I do not like Mondays it reminds me that we are beginning a new week. A new week in which God has blessed us and given us the chance to enjoy life, live for him, love others and make a difference in this world. Today is a gift, not our right! So even though it is really cold and rainy here and I wish I could have stayed in my warm bed, reading a book or drinking tea I am thankful I have today even if it is Monday!

How was your weekend? What are you thankful for today?

October 1st...things I'm thankful for

Ok so now that it is officially October 1st - which may I add where did the summer and September go??? - I will start my daily list of things I am thankful for. Now I need to make a mention here that this list is not in order of "Most thankful to least thankful" or anything they will be all randomly depending on the day and how Im feeling .... so whatever that day I feel most thankful for I will blog about - and I will try and only pick one thing... otherwise we could be here awhile.

So I encourage you to join in...we have soooo much to be thankful for really we do so what are you thankful for?

Today I am thankful for Fall - the actual season...I keep hearing people say "Fall's my favorite time of year" and I've always thought its not mine -I like the summer the hot weather and I love love Christmas time... but you know I really do love Fall to.





I today am especially thankful for the colours of Fall. Is our God not the most beautiful Creator and picks the best colour for fall. I love Fall decorating especially because of the colour palate it uses: Orange, Mustard Yellow, Green, Red, Brown, the list could keep going but such rich colours. I am sad that this year I won't really get to do much fall decorating as most of our place is all boxed up for our move this month so by the time we move and unpack I'll be getting right into Christmas mode I think but I am still enjoying reading your blogs and seeing your lovely decorating for this Fall season...