Why ain't it always summer? Why must it end? Who wants to put their shoes on? Not me, my friend (Anne of Green Gables musical) :)

Can you believe it's the second week of September? There's already a chill in the air and I'm still clinging to the last thoughts of summer.

I just have to say, I can't wait till my friends Josh and Laura have their baby- I guessed they would have it on the 8th but it looks like I was wrong. I can't wait to see photos of the little one, if you're reading this, hope all goes well, it will be such a cutie!

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of a visit from my Aunt Barb and Uncle Phil who were passing through on their way back from a wedding. I haven't seen them often the last few years, and they moved to the States this year, so it was a pleasant surprise.

We went out for lunch before they took to the road again, and had a great time catching up. Now I'm thinking...road trip to New York state? :)

Somehow, September is filling up so fast already, even though I'm no longer a student- it surprises me every year when every day almost I have somewhere I need to go or something I need to get done.

Right now, my time is largely consumed with training for this marathon - 18 days left! Yikes! - and trying to avoid injury. I am SO taking a break after this one! Hopefully I can actually finish the race, that's the goal at this point. (Of course, it would be a nice bonus to do it well- but we'll see...)

This year, I'm co-leading a small group in our young adults group, so I'm pretty excited about that, plus continuing with ESL conversation class. How did I get so busy for someone who's not a student? I feel like I have more (or just as much) on the go as when I was a student with three part-time jobs in the summer. And that's without family responsibilities like kids! To you moms out there, I don't know how you do it, but I applaud you!

I leave you with a couple of photos from Roman Holiday- I love the idea of dancing on a barge in Rome:) Who knows, I may get to try some of these things! We shall see...

Happy September!

Sisters

This weekend, my little sister Ruth came down for a visit, one week after her birthday as kind of a late birthday present. She took the train to Toronto and I met her there; we enjoyed walking around Toronto until our train back to London. It was her first time in either city, and on a train, so I think it was fun for her.

While she was here, Liz and I took her out for supper, and for ice cream at Marble Slab. The girl there actually thought we were twins- we were like, "Um, no... there's ten years between us..." - unbelievable! We also took Ruth to Niagara Falls on Saturday - a first for her and Liz. There was a huge rainbow arcing over the entire falls for several minutes. I tried to get some shots of it but I think I overexposed the photos.

All in all, it was great to have her, and we had all kinds of adventures, including getting lost on the way to and back from the falls! Good times.

We also took some goofy car photos on the way back - this is one where Liz looks so impressed :P

Word for today

Psalm 121

The LORD the Keeper of Israel.

A Song of Ascents.

1 I will lift up my eyes to the mountains;
From where shall my help come?
2 My help comes from the LORD,
Who made heaven and earth.
3 He will not allow your foot to slip;
He who keeps you will not slumber.
4 Behold, He who keeps Israel
Will neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The LORD is your keeper;
The LORD is your shade on your right hand.
6 The sun will not smite you by day,
Nor the moon by night.
7 The LORD will protect you from all evil;
He will keep your soul.
8 The LORD will guard your going out and your coming in
From this time forth and forever.

Today I am restless and need to expend some energy- hard to do while sitting at a desk at a sedentary job. But I'm also feeling restless in spirit, and I think this psalm is very appropriate for today.

The wheels on the bus

This morning, while riding the bus to work, I decided to watch the people around me, instead of just plugging in my earphones and listening to my music.

While sitting there, it occurred to me how much I can learn from students. Well, not just students, but that is mostly who ride the bus I take to work:) The guy beside me had his music too loud, which irritated me until I realized it was a Taylor Swift song that I like. The young mother who is often on the bus was keeping up a steady stream of conversation while taking her daughter to school. Someone else was reading a book which looked like Harry Potter, and another girl had a really great hairstyle that I can't do with my curly hair.

All these things are not really profound or anything, but it made me realize how the little things can really affect one's day. I could choose to be grumpy for a couple hours till my coffee kicked in, or I could appreciate the cross-section of society that I shared a bus with. Surprisingly, I was thinking all these lucid thoughts before 8 o'clock in morning:)

In a year where I've had some pretty high highs and low lows, today is a reminder that my mood does not control me, and I can choose to make the most of each day instead of letting circumstances dictate my life. Somehow I always manage to forget this till the next rainy day when I actually need to apply it:)

Any thoughts?

Welcome back, Kat!

On Tuesday night, I got together with my friend Kat who was in London shortly on her way back from Ukraine. I got to see her before when she was leaving and again now that she's back, I'm spoiled:) It was fun reconnecting and hearing what God has been doing in her life in the last year. Welcome back, Kat:)

Kat's first Starbucks back in Canada!

My wonderful and wacky family

For the August long weekend, I decided to visit my family, since I haven't seen them since Christmas, the kids anyway. I took the train both ways, which I much prefer to the bus, and it was a leisurely trip. Liz was home the weekend before for a wedding, so she had to work and couldn't come this time.

I got to spend some quality time with my younger sister- can you tell we're related? :P - and my brothers. It was weird to feel so outnumbered by the guys:) Poor Ruth:) You can't tell in the photo but she's already taller than me, I'm already the shortest sister. Oh well, it was bound to happen!

Curly sisters

(I haven't figured out how to get rid of the red-eye yet...)

Maman et moi

My brother Benjamin decided to be funny and put this tacky border- I can't get it off but I like the photo:)

Unfortunately, the time flew by all too quickly. It seems like the more I'm away from them, the more I appreciate family, and can make more meaningful connections, you know? I feel I've missed out on a lot of time I could have been more intentional, but there's no time like now to keep a good thing going.

On Monday I had the chance to meet up with my friend Nathalie who I haven't seen in a couple of years. It was great to catch up on what we've both been up to - I was going to see Chantal as well but she was away for the weekend. (Hope you had fun, Chant! :D ) We went out for breakfast and walked around the mall a bit before I went to catch my train. I loved reconnecting with her, she's an awesome girl and I'm glad we're in touch again.

Nat and I

More to come! :) Thanks for reading.

La visite

Contrary to what I posted last time, I have no photos of the camping, but it was great to have a retreat at a campground, just to be in nature and to have some time to breathe. I went with the young adults group from Open Door, and they made me feel so welcome; I really enjoyed spending time with them and debriefing the last few weeks for myself and have time to just listen.

This past weekend, I was so blessed to have company, twice in one weekend! Now in case that sounds lame, they were both visits from out of town, it's not that I never have company!

On Friday night when I got home, there were two messages on my answering machine, one from a family friend from back home, and one from my aunt and uncle.

The first was to say that Verena, one of my friends from highschool, who was an exchange student from Germany, would be in London on the weekend and we should get together. I was pretty surprised to hear this; we kept in touch for a while but haven't talked for years.

My aunt was calling to make arrangements to meet up, since they would be in town for a couple of days.

So it ended up that Verena and I had coffee together on Saturday, with her new husband:) and her cousin's family. It was so great to see each other again and catch up- we hadn't seen each other for 10 years! Her little cousin was five last time I saw him and now he goes to highschool with my brother, how weird is that. I felt old when I saw him. Now I want to learn more German so I can go visit them:)

Me and Verena

Hardi and Verena

On Sunday morning, my aunt Nancy and uncle Harold picked me up and we went out for breakfast before church. I always love spending time with them, we can be real with each other and they bless me so much by building into my life.

Me and Aunt Nancy

And now for a little humour- last week I made a trifle for work, and I was so proud of it (it's not hard to make but it looked pretty). I put it in a bowl my mom gave me and then took it home at the end of the day.



After work I had to run some errands and the one store I was at was having a sidewalk sale, so what did I do? I was so distracted that I walked right into the glass front door, holding my bowl, and it smashed into three pieces.


Classic move! Just when I thought I was growing out of my clumsiness.

This weekend I'm going to visit my family- here's hoping the travel isn't too long, it will be good to visit. Sorry it's such a long post!