Let the Countdown Begin...

Did you know I turn 26 three months from today? Only 4 years and three months to 30...sad day!

This year is going by so fast I can almost feel the wind rushing by - I've had a lot of internal change this summer - it's been very interesting for me to look back at and see the pattern emerging.

I think I have a better idea of what the next few years will look like now, God willing, and it's very encouraging. I've always been a dreamer, but the last few years I've stopped dreaming, partly because of the baggage I've been hauling around, and it's such a great feeling to have rediscovered that part of myself. God is so good, hey. He used someone in my life that I've been friends with for a long time to bring about the changes - I'm sure this person has no idea just what an influence they've been on me over the last few months, but I can see how God has used things they've said and done to get my attention. It's pretty cool, and I'm feeling very blessed to have such a great bunch of friends here.

I have an idea about what my next career choice is going to be, but it's a few years off yet, cause it involves a big time and financial commitment, not to mention a huge lifestyle change. This is something I've never really wanted to do before, but now I'm feeling kind of excited about it, and it's all because I dealt with so much of my crap this summer. Now I just have to wait for God's timing - I'm TERRIBLE about doing that! Well, doing it patiently, anyway. Once I've decided what I want, I like to just go for it, you know? I know God will do a better job of bringing everything together then I ever could, but it would be great if he could hurry up about it! :)

Change of Number

If you've known Trevor for very long, you know he has a habit of losing things - well, this time he's lost his cell phone, and had to get a new one. He got a better deal from Bell then Telus, so he's got a new number. The 875-4264 one isn't working anymore, so if you want the new number, please email me and I'll give it to you.

He's happy with the new one, cause it's also an MP3 player, which means I'll get his mini disc player, which makes me happy, so it's worked out ok! :)

You know you're busy when...

...you forget it's Friday! Can you believe that I did that? I'm really loosing it this time...sigh...and I'm developing a somewhat co-dependent relationship with my laptop - I hardly go anywhere without it, and the mere idea of something possibly happening to it makes my ulcer act up. Can you say "too much stress"?!!!

The Light the Night walk is coming up soon, and I'm still collecting donations! I have to hand in all cash and cheques to my team captain on Monday, but you can donate online up until Saturday...
http://www.active.com/donate/ltncal/1986_mheumann
It's for a good cause, and it's tax deductible! And you'll be making me walk 5k, which I'm sure will be very good for me...

Tonight!

You want to hear some good music?

One of my best friends, Sarah Wemyss, is playing a couple coffee houses in Calgary this week. On Wednesday she's at the Starfish Cafe, which is at 4510 Macleod Trail SW, in the rear basement-walk out, and that starts at 7 pm.
On Friday night she's playing at the House, at 7 pm. I'm told the House is on 10th Street NW, in Kensington area, but I can't find it on Google or in the phone book, so if you know where it's located, please let me know!
Then on Sunday, Sarah's playing at the 10:30 service at Foothills.
And she has this great CD, so if you can't make it, you can order her CD from www.qsarah.com!

(This post is by special request of Pastor Mike, who said he'd write down the dates if he read it on my blog. Makes me happy, that does! Nice to know that someone's actually reading this thing and I'm not just talking to myself... :)

In case you were just dying to know, the first service for Bethel went pretty well. It was a small crowd, and there were some logistical issues that need to be worked out, but it was a good start. There'll be another service in October sometime, and I'll be sure to let you know when that will be.

Oh, and the National Youth Gathering planning was great, apart from my personal revelations. We have a lot of good ideas that I'm excited to see take shape. We're doing a lot of things that we hope will capture the attention of the youth - today's youth are more and more ADD, and if we want them to hear what we're saying, we need to think more outside the box. It's going to be FANTASTIC, and it's only 290 days away! (That's probably a scary thought for those of you with more work to do then me... :)

The Survivor publicity is going in the mail today - such a huge stress that's been this last week! But it's done now, and if you're a youth leader, look for it in your mailbox by the end of the week. And if you don't get one, and want one, please let me know! It's only 73 days away, so get those registrations in quickly. I sent out 79 publicity packages, and I think we'll only be able to take about 150 youth and leaders, so get your registrations in as fast as you can!

Silly Me...

You ever have one of those moments when you realize something, and wonder why on earth it took you so long to figure it out? I had one today - actually a couple, one led into the other.

I'm part of the team planning sessions for the National Youth Gathering in Ottawa next summer, and we spent last night and all of today brainstorming for it. One of the other people brought up a speaker he had heard once, named Dan Allendar, who has a book called "To be Told". Basically it sounds like it's about being at peace with the story of your life, and seeing the good that's come from the bad. It really affected me, just the way he said it, and later when we were praying, I was kind of mulling it over, and something hit me.

I know that I feel called to tell my story at Survivor, and I've come to terms with the fact that that's what I'm going to do, but I haven't liked the idea. I guess I've felt somehow like that would be self-promoting somehow. But the fact of it is that it would be God-promoting! My story is basically about how I was sexually and verbally/emotionally abused, and how God is healing me from the burden of that pain. My story is about what He's done for me, and why on earth would I NOT want to share that? And that led in to why am I so worried about what to say? There's a verse where Jesus tells the disciples to not worry about what to say, because He will give them the words. I KNOW that, I just forgot. I just make me shake my head...sigh.

Anyway, I'm going to tell my story, and I'm excited about it, cause God is using me to bring Him glory, so that's darn well what I'm going to do! And I'm not feeling quite so nauseous about it either, which is nice. And praise God for cool Christians who you learn stuff from - He's really blessed me with a great bunch of people to hang around with, work with and learn from. And you know what? I'm happy with my life, and with who I am, and I wouldn't be who I am if I hadn't gone through all that crap - God has brought good from bad and I'm not going to be so shy about sharing that fact from now on.

The song that was running through my head was "My Redeemer Lives", in particular the lines that goes: "My shame He's taken away, my pain is healed in His name, I believe". It's such a joyful song, and a lot of the time I get so busy I forget to be joyful, you know? And considering how much I have to be joyful about, that's kind of sad!

So those are my new goals - to be more open about what God has done for me, and to be more joyful about the life that He's blessed me with. Yay God!

Woe is me...

...I think I'm getting the flu. I won't get sick - I can't! I SO don't have time. It started today with a really bad headache - the kind where it feels like someone's got your eye sockets in vice grip, so I went home early. As I was leaving, the girl who sits next to me, who had the flu this week, pointed out that her early symptoms were a brutal headache and back pain. Since I always have back pain, I wasn't worried. Till I came home, went to bed, and got the chills. Then I went burning hot, and now I'm a little panicked. So I took two Advil liqui-gells, three Cold Fx, three echenacia capsules with garlic and ginger, and a large glass of orange juice.
I have an exciting but busy weekend coming up, and I won't give in to the germs - never give up, never surrender!!!

Back to school...

My first class was tonight, and I learned something I've never figured out in the five years I've been hanging around SAIT - the Heart building has a basement! Go figure! I was nearly late for my class it took so long to find the room. Sigh...the instructor seems ok, anyway. He's got an interesting way of looking at things, but I feel that Real Estate law isn't very exciting in general. Oh well, last class, and then I can get my certificate!

I'm now officially a Commissioner for Oaths in and for the Province of Alberta, which is very exciting. I swore my first affidavit yesterday, so now I feel like a real legal assistant. Hooray for swearing! :)

A couple of weeks ago, we had a youth event at which much chaos ensued. Some of it was captured on a camera phone, and I share the pictures with you for your amusement.

This is Chris and Matt - wonderful youth leaders, eh?


This is Chris and Jordan...really, what else can I say about that?

I'm mostly doing this to bug Chris... :) Hehe!

I just downloaded MSN - sigh. Years of holding out, and I finally broke down. I can now message you with MSN, Google chat or Skype! I have a lot of crap on my computer...

Ah well, past my bed time! Big weekend coming up, and I've got a lot of projects to get through so I can focus on it!

Oh hey, one last thing...nice, hey? I really like...

Bethel Update

Worship with us on Sunday, September 17th, at 2:30pm-3:30pm

Sleep in, have lunch and then come and join us at Mackenzie Lake Community Association Centre

Followed by a Desert Extravaganza!!!

Everyone welcome, Nursery care provided, Children's church

Directions: from 22x Marquis of Lorne, Turn up McKenzie Lake Blvd, north from the Cranston gate,up to McKenzie Lake Way SE, turn right, and you'll see the hall on your right.

Made me laugh...

Road Trip

So much to say - where to start? I spent the long weekend in the Okanagan - Scott, Chris and I went to Penticton to visit another Crew alum, and it was a blast. (Trevor couldn't come cause he's on the worship team for the fall TEC, and he had to play at the meeting Friday night, and he was taking the youth to the Labour Day Classic.)

We left Friday after work, and didn't get in till almost midnight. We listened to a lot of music, and this comedian, Bill Engvall, best known for his "here's your sign" jokes. Here's a link to a video of his - he's probably the cleanest comedian I've ever heard, and I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard. We had such a good time, I was almost sorry to get to Sam's!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jovsckwNF6U

I got up fairly early on Saturday morning, and spent some time on the deck, overlooking the lake, with my Bible. It was fantastic - I wish I could start every day like that! We went to the beach in the afternoon, and I had some time to just sit and work some stuff out with God - I don't know when I spent some quality time with Him like that last. It was probably a good thing I'd forgotten the power cord for my laptop, otherwise I would have spent the afternoon working.

We went mini golfing in the evening, and I swear, Chris is the most dangerous mini golf player ever. He swings like he's playing real golf - the ball ricocheted off a rock, nearly hit him in the head, and went in to the bushes. He had to go ask for a new ball at that point... The very next hole, he does the same thing, except this time it rebounds off the rock...and right at my ankle. I was not amused... Then we get to the last hole, and you'd think he'd have learned his lesson by this point, right? Wrong! It comes flying back, nearly hits me in the head, and lands in the stream. (Picture me shaking my head and rolling my eyes here...)

On Sunday, Scott and I went in to Kelowna for church at First Lutheran, and I got to see Sarah for a bit. I really like First - they've got a beautiful building, and a great congregation. The Okanagan circuit churches all seem to have really great staff, too. I haven't been to Concordia in Penticton, but that's where Chris went on Sunday, and he really liked it. I noticed today that they're hiring a secretary, and I realized that I would maybe like to do that again some time. I really surprise myself sometimes...

Anyway, we also went to Summerhill Winery, which makes my favourite kind of wine, and had some free samples, which is always good. On the drive back to Penticton, we cranked the worship tunes, and I got to spend some more quality time with God - who'd have imagined that the best worship time I've had in ages would be in the back of a car? Kind of ironic! In the evening, we had this fantastic jam session out on the deck - Scott on guitar and Sam's dad, Chester, on congas. It was pretty cool, and I ended up staying up until 2 am working on my testimony for Survivor. I've given up asking God "are you sure I have to do this?" and started asking "what the heck do I say?". I'm pretty nervous about it - there's a lot of people that I know that have no idea about my past crap, and the Lutheran grapevine moves pretty quick, and I don't know how the kids are going to respond to it. I'm trying not to think about it too much, cause it makes me nauseous. Such a pain...

On Monday morning, I spent more time on the deck with my Bible, and we just spend the morning chilling with Sam. We had some great burns at Chris, and he even burnt himself really well at some very opportune times - 'twas awesome. We left around noon, and didn't get back to Calgary until about 10. I got some time to work out my testimony a bit more, and then from Golden on, we had some great conversations. Chris used about half a dozen big words, and it was just some really great hang-out time - it was cool, because while we hang out a lot, but we don't really talk about important stuff.

We came up with a grand plan that involves me and Trevor, Scott, and Chris moving to the Okanagan and buying houses all next to each other. I think that sounds like great fun - it would be such a blast. I really want to move away from Calgary at some point, I'm really not a city girl, but I really don't want to leave my friends, either, so taking them with me sounds like a good idea, hey? And while Lake Okanagan isn't an ocean, at least it's more water then Calgary has, and it's not too far from the Pacific. Who knows if it would ever work out, but it's fun to think about, anyway.

So, it was an extraordinary weekend. I made some new friends, got to know some old ones a little better, had some awesome times with God, bought some wine, and came home to Trevor. It was such a relief to not have any work or responsibilities, and Sam's family was so hospitable, it was totally relaxing to just hang out there. So much fun - I'm so blessed!