Android Revolution

I couldn't hold out any-longer.  My blackberry has served me well but I am tired of it freezing and not sending or receiving messaged until 2 days later. In our fast paced world this leaves me in the dust a lot of the time. But I am now officially up to speed! 

Now I won't need a laptop… I hope. If I can do Email, Skype, Facebook and google from my phone the only reason why I will need a computer is to update this blog… I'm way faster at typing on a keyboard than I am on the touch screen.  

So friends, Text me, Skype me, Facebook me, Call me… I guess my cell phone can do phone calls too! 

Life Choices

OH HOW HE LOVES US. 

As I listen to this song I think about my life choices… the good, the bad, the ugly and the "what was I thinking…" choices. I have made some incredibly stupid choices, I have also made some good decisions. The best decisions have been to repent from the incredibly stupid life choices. 

The beauty of a life with God is that we can see His love and His grace in the bad decisions and well as the good decisions. His love speaks louder than any decision I could make. Since I am His creation and He knows me so intimately none of my decisions are a surprise to Him. He may be disappointed with the choices I have made but that doesn't change the way He loves me. 

In the past few months I have witnessed/ heard about some incredible life choices that my friends are making. Some of those choices swell me with pride and joy. Yet others bring me to tears and make me ache for the consequences and pain that follow those decisions. None of those decisions change the way I love those friends. I will always love those friends no matter what life decisions they make. But, something does change, those life decisions either draw the friendship closer or cause distance. Once the bad life decision is made it's like there is a fork in the road, you choose one direction and your friend chooses another. There is the physical distance between the roads but also the emotional, spiritual and relational distance that comes from being un-able to relate. 

I believe that is the way it is with God. We can walk close to Him and be in relationship with Him, but when we choose a different direction we loose the contact with Him. We cause the distance. He didn't leave. He is there, walking parallel to us but on a different road. His arms are stretched out to us and offer us a way back to Him. All we have to do is admit we were wrong, accept His love and grace and run into His arms. He is always loving us and waiting on us. 

As I think about relationships that have changed over the years, the friendships that have grown distant have mostly been because of a physical distance. But other relationships have been because of life decisions and losing the ability to relate. Different Schools, Dating, Moving, Work, Marriage, and Children whether they are good choices or not isn't for me to decide but they have been the cause of losing that ability to relate. 

The longer we live the more life decisions we make whether good or bad (because we are not perfect) those decisions shape our lives and will either draw us towards the Lord or away from Him. I challenge you to think about that in your own lives. Can you see how decisions have pulled you away from the Lord and friends and how other decisions have been beneficial to those relationships. 

OH HOW HE LOVES US. 

HE IS JEALOUS FOR ME

HIS LOVE IS LIKE A HURRICANE 

I AM A TREE

BENDING BENEATH THE WEIGHT

OF HIS WIND AND MERCY

WHEN ALL OF A SUDDEN 

I AM UNAWARE

 OF THESE AFFLICTIONS 

ECLIPSED BY GLORY

AND I REALISE 

JUST HOW BEAUTIFUL 

YOU ARE AND HOW GREAT 

YOUR AFFECTIONS ARE FOR ME 

OH HOW HE LOVES US OH

OH HOW HE LOVES US

HOW HE LOVES US OH

WE ARE HIS PORTION 

AND HE IS OUR PRIZE

DRAWN TO REDEMPTION 

BY THE GRACE IS HIS EYES

IF GRACE IS AN OCEAN 

WE'RE ALL SINKING

AND HEAVEN MEETS EARTH 

LIKE A UNFORSEEN KISS 

AND MY HEART TURNS VIOLENTLY

 INSIDE OF MY CHEST

I DON'T HAVE TIME TO MAINTAIN

 THESE REGRETS WHEN 

I THINK ABOUT THE WAY… 

HE LOVES US! 

WOO HOO!!!!!!! 

Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving is coming up, I am so excited for this holiday. I think it is one of my favourites. We are having lots of family over, lots of food and I expect lots of laughing!

I am thankful that John and Shirley Bennett are coming from chicago
I am thankful that Emilee is coming from Ottawa
I am thankful that Luc and Rebecca are coming from Calgary
I am thankful that Mom and Dad are coming from Ft. Mcmurray
I am thankful that Patti and James are coming from Rimbey
I am thankful that it will be a full house for the weekend! … I might need to escape saturday for a bit of solitude though… :)

I have so many things to be thankful for. The Lord answered my prayers and has extended my job until christmas. I will be pruning the field trees at the nursery until then, Which means I don't have to get another job before my trip.

That is another answer to prayer. I have been wanting to return to Hawaii. Well, God is sending me again. I am going back as a volunteer for 3 months and my sister (another answered prayer) is applying to come along. Her agreement and feeling lead to go to Hawaii was my confirmation. I will be mission building from january 16- april 16. If you want to come visit… I'd love to see any of you there!

Another answer to prayer is that my Jeep has been stalling and it went to the mechanic today (thanks to mom and dad's good timing) and it's just spark plugs and crossed wires… The poor jeep is getting a little old. it's about time some things were replaced.

I am also thankful for fall. I love this weather. I love scarves, mitts, toques and the fallen leaves. I am so thankful for my family and my friends… who live all over the Canada and the world. I miss you all!

I am thankful for the ladies at work and the relationships I am building with them, it will be sad not to see them for most of the winter… but spring will be a sweet sweet reunion!

I am so very thankful for the blood of Jesus that restores my relationship with him. I am so thankful that He loved me so much that he painfully spilt his blood to save me from my own self and sin. I am thankful that he shows him love to me, through relationships, orchestrated meetings and timing, sunsets, northern lights, blue herons landing on the creek behind the green house, moose wandering through a field, Geese collecting and flying south. I am so Thankful that he cares and knows me enough to give me those gifts!

I am thankful!!

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.