No Worries

I had an awesome opportunity to go and drive a combine at a farm by Wainwright. It was a sweet chance to taste the life of a farmer. Paul and Laura Ford opened their house and fields to me. I wasn't at their house long but I know that I am made for country life and it was refreshing to my spirit to be out of the city. I drove a quad, combine, the grain truck, had a nap under the old pine trees… and I just had to climb one of them… It was a wonderful day! 

this is the canola that I harvested from the field! 

Live with no worries… God is the master of all! watch this video and think about the struggles and challenges that you have and how God is being glorified through them! 

Makai Roan Poff.

I would like to introduce you to my new cousin/nephew.  Meet Makai Roan Poffenroth. 

My dear cousin Anni gave birth september 14th to a beautiful strong and hairy young man. Anni and I have been best buds since we were 4, Makai is more than a cousin… He is more like a nephew. 

God is so sweet. Anni was due last Tuesday so I, and many others have been anxiously anticipating the arrival of this young man. The Lord arranged it amazingly. My day off was Wednesday, if Makai hadn't have come, labor would have been induced wednesday at 11 am. which means no baby until wednesday evening. But the Lord decided that it was important for me to be there, so Makai came at 4:00 wednesday morning. I was able to spend almost the whole day snuggling with him and chatting with Anni. What an incredible blessing. 

Makai is Hawaiian for Matthew, Gift from God. He is that! He is a blessing and a reminder of God's faithfulness, love and grace. God is so good to us. I can't wait to hug and kiss this little guy again. He is beautiful, and I am excited to watch him grow up and laugh with him, spoil him, challenge him and hopefully one day climb trees with him. :) 

It is amazing how this baby fits into my Hawaii life. Anni skyped me my first week in Hawaii to tell me that she was pregnant, we had many conversations about hawaii since I have returned and now that I'm thinking of going back to hawaii, for him to have a hawaiian name seems to fit so perfectly. (i know it is not all about me though… Anni has her own reasons why she chose the name). 

Craving Grace

http://lisavelthouse.com/books/craving-grace/

I have read this book in 2 weeks. (that's quick for me, I am not a fast reader)

It was easy reading. Interesting and has drawn me to crave the sweetness of God's grace more and more.

I can relate to Lisa's story and it is funny how she has put into words much of what I've learned the last 2 years.

The quote from her book that sums up the lesson I've learned. page 197.

"I finally accepted that no act of goodness- refusing the last half of a torte, for instance (she was on a sugar fast)- could make my sinfulness less offensive, less entire. I was accepting the gospel message that says God can love me fully, even when I'm in the throes of violating my word to him. I was admitting to myself that my level of deservingness would never climb above an even zero.


"If the mercy is true," wrote Martin Luther, "you must therefore bear the true, not an imaginary sin. God does not save those who are only imaginary sinners. Be a sinner, and let your sins be strong." For a time I took my extra good works completely off the table, and I let my faith stand only on the merit of God's love and sacrifice. This allowed me to define myself not as someone impressively faithful but as someone rescued. It was humbling, and it was heaven. 


This is the scandal of Grace: the jolt that comes afterward is not from the heaviness of remorse but from a new, tender lightness. I was learning how to be less and infinitely lower than I had always expected and thought I was. I was beginning to see what it means to be drawn to God - not committed out of mere duty, not faithful simply because it might cajole him into favour, but attracted to him and won over by the reckless extent of his love. " page 197,198. 

She has put into words the way I have felt since my Mission Building experience in Hawaii. God got ahold of me anew there. He renewed a new life in me. Restored me from the destructive lifestyle of "being a good little christian girl" with lots of aches and sins and secrets. I am free to be not good all the time. I am free to have bad days. I am free to be me… sinful. And he still loves me. Oh how He loves me.

I have tasted his sweetness. I will give you an example. Today was my day off, last night I was feeling very lonely and I was worried about spending my day off all alone. I contacted a few people this morning but they were busy so as I planned my day ( full so I wouldn't have time to think about my loneliness) I receive a text from a friend, Courtney. She asks if I still wanted to do something on my day off. She is willing to come out to Millet with me to look at some tree work. We spend the day driving in the convertible Jeep, swinging, singing, chatting, had ice cream. She trimmed my hair, and blessed my spirit.
That is an example of God's sweetness. His grace for me. I don't deserve to have friends like that who come over at the precise moments. But it's his gift to me for today. I am so thankful and blessed to know and taste his sweetness.

Shoes and Sofas

I have been pondering something this week and I want to know if anyone can give me some answers.

 I have often seen a lonely shoe laying on it's side in the middle of the street. … where does it come from? where is the foot that it belongs to and the other half to the pair? I feel confused and a little sad when I see this. Was it a pedestrian that ran fast across the street and lost their shoe? Was it a pedestrian that was hit by a car? Was it a sibling rivalry that went bad in the backseat of a minivan and the older brother tossed the younger's shoe? How does this happen?

This week on my drive to work through the beautiful countryside and back roads I came across a blue sofa in the ditch. Did a homeowner drive out from the city to a 'unused' back road to rid themselves of this sofa rather than taking it to the dump? Did it fall off of a truck as someone was moving and they have lost their sofa forever? Was this sofa stolen by delinquents as a prank and just left there for the cows to enjoy?

There are sometimes in my life when I feel like these objects. lost, lonely, tossed aside and forgotten about. But God is so good and in those moments I feel his presence the most. There is a quote I heard a few weeks ago… okay, maybe a month… "let your loneliness become solitude and solitude prayer". when we get over the fact that we FEEL lonely we can look the beauty of it. We can find ways to celebrate the solitude and find the rich blessing that is in the quiet.

Our world is so full of noise. It is tough to choose the quiet, the TV, ipod, radio and phone is always so available to us. We can so easily drown out our own thoughts and the voice of God that is so needed in the stillness. Living alone has had it's challenges, coming home to an empty house, deciding whether to cut the grass or make supper (because there isn't enough time or energy to do both), listening to the clock tick away the evening… because I'm too cool to go to sleep at 7:00. Walking, reading, crocheting and journaling have become a bigger part of my life than I thought they would.

TV is a temptation and a distraction. If I sit down to eat supper in front of the TV (for the companionship) before I realize it it's 9 o clock and I didn't do anything. I am not saying that TV is bad, but for me it's a time sucker. I enjoy TV shows but I don't have self control to get up and turn it off and get outside. luckily I'm a crocheter so I do get lots of projects done while I sit in front of the tube.

Endless Ocean.

By Jonathan Helser

God's love is endless!!

Amen. 

Welcome August!

The days are getting shorter, the nights a little cooler, the raspberries are ripening and my garden is producing. Welcome August!



I have had peas, apples, rhubarb, raspberries and zucchini from my yard. I am really excited for the carrots, beets and maybe even cucumbers if we get a warm 6 weeks.

















I have had so many months of summer… being in hawaii for 3 months was wonderful but this Canadian girl is craving the fall. I want to wear my sweaters, mitts, scarves and touques. I want to see my breath and have fires in the back yard in the evening… now it's just too hot to start a fire. I am excited for pumpkins, the crunching leaves under my feet and a brisk walk around the lake. I'm also excited for snow… i want to go cross country skiing again! :) Maybe i'm crazy… maybe i'm just Canadian.

I went to visit the horses today. Meet Bell and Tess. Tess is the Bay and Bella is the chestnut. They are good friends of mine. I am at a loss as far as 'Horse Training' but i just enjoy spending time with them and wandering around in their little piece of heaven out there. I hope they enjoy spending time with me as much as I like spending time with them.

Bella. 

Tess (she has spunk)

And moi. Again, out in a wheat field…. what can i say?? I just like it. 

Deer, Wolves, Hot springs and Golf

We went to Radium as a family this long weekend. Luc, Rebecca, Emilee, Mom, Dad, Grandma and I. It was a long drive but completely worth it! I absolutely love the mountains, I am always in awe of the beauty and creativity I see in God whenever I am there. The beauty of the wild flowers, the ruggedness of the rocky mountains, and the resilience of nature.

On our drive we passed a stretch that was 'destroyed' by forest fires close to 10 years ago. It is incredible to see how the new growth is coming up and animals are moving back into that area. this particular area is being repopulated by wolves (who aren't aware of the highway I'm guessing) so there were signs out to watch out for wolves on the road. So, as I stood on the side of the highway taking this photo and listening for car horns, my dad sat protectively inside the truck watching for wolves.

My highlight of the whole trip was playing golf (surprised??) saturday afternoon. I have only played one game of golf and that was in high school for Phys Ed class in the pouring rain, I viewed it as more of a walk with some weird hockey-ness to it.


But this time I actually enjoyed the game of golf, I played with Mom and Dad; Emilee, Luc and Rebecca played ahead of us. Dad did some sweet shots, one of his shots skipped twice across the little pond and ended up half way up the hill to the green. Mom skipped her ball off the water once and landed around the same spot. And mine went right into the middle of the pond. But luckily we weren't keeping score (maybe that's why i enjoyed it… i didn't know how bad i was doing) My next attempt at clearing the pond worked, I just put my head down and in my anger I hit that ball so hard…. it went over the water and up the hill !!! Success!


On the 6th hole while mom and I had a bit of a bathroom break; Luc, Rebecca and Emilee tee'd off… Luc hit the side of the washroom (with mom inside). At the same hole, Dad and I were standing at the tee box and we hear 3 distinct FORE!!!!!!'s.  So I whipped around, eyes up and hands by my head expecting to see a little while bullet shooting at me. I didn't… see anything. The golfer came over later and Dad helped him look for his ball, it landed 5 feet behind where I was standing on a little piece of cement at the backside of the tee box. CRAZY!!!

1 more close call was on the last hole, I think we were getting impatient so Mom and I stayed close behind Luc, Rebecca and Emilee; Dad needed to stay a bit further behind because he can send that ball so far. at one point mom was telling dad to shoot, dad hesitated, and then decided that it was an okay thing to do. Emilee and Rebecca… and the golf cart (maybe another reason why i liked this game) were by the sand pit. Dad hit the ball and it headed straight toward my sister and sister-in-law. Mom, Dad and I all shout FORE!!!!, and Emilee sees the ball just in time to take a step back and allow the ball to land inside the sandpit just feet from where she was standing. Rebecca wanted to show dad that she thought it was a bad move, so rebecca stepped on dad's ball and buried it in the sandpit. We all survived the 9 holes and we all had a good time despite the close calls.

The beauty of the mountains this weekend was just incredible. We couldn't have asked for nicer weather or a more comfortable stay. We ate good food, laughed, prayed, golfed, swam and soaked in the hot springs. We had Grandma's brother and sister-in-law over for tea and pie one night and we walked alot! 

I think it was a great August long weekend. ( not so long because i need to work holiday monday…)