My Dom

Hmm..it has been a while since I have written on here, I do confess. A lot has happened since then, mostly in the year 2011..

I am writing in a beautiful second floor apartment that is filled with a newness of thought and purpose that breathes of things to come. I've been engaged for around six months, expectantly counting down to a thanksgiving celebration wedding that will allow me to commit to a man who has proven his love for me over and over, a man that has sacrificed so much just to see me smile - I am delighted and honoured to be able to share life with him, to the glory of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

The semester has ended like a whirlwind! I still can't believe I don't have to write any papers for a whole month! When I asked a few of the other people in the cohort how they would spend their break they said they would read for fun! That's tenacity right there! Somehow reading is still relaxing, even after what we had to finish each week!!

Tomorrow I head on the road for a long arduous trip to London Ontario...yep, right next to Sarnia who has had a brutal week of weather and horrific road conditions...I place my trust in God alone to get me there! After that I intend to pick up Dom from the Toronto airport and head up north to my parent's house. :)

Merry Christmas! :D

The end of Fall Semester

So, I should be writing large papers about graduate stuff that no-one except graduate students read. Instead, I decided to write a little bit about life in Berwyn. It's been neat having warm temperatures all the way up to December...well, almost all the way up to December (I'm just assuming things will stay the way they are!). Getting thanksgiving twice was a major perk too.

It's amazing, when the work piles on, the fun piles on too. I've had more social events in the past week than I've had all month...and it's been the most overloaded assignment period we've had all semester! Go figure! I guess you just need that extra boost of motivation that comes with hanging out with people!

Chicky, one of my ex-students from Honduras came to have Thanksgiving with her family. So I got to hang out with her at the Franklin Institute (a children's museum similar to Chiminike!). It was nostalgic for her (as she'd been there when she was 11). In fact, the guy playing percussion outside of the museum had been there when she was 11...how crazy is that!

As American Thanksgiving came around, everyone in my cohort left. Well, mostly everyone. The few who were left had thanksgiving together at Connie's place. We enjoyed a great meal, great fellowship, and a much needed break from writing papers. I even had the energy to show off the broom trick!

After that, it was work...and more work. Though I did have a bright spot...Dom had the sweetness of heart to send me flowers! They were beautiful! And were intended to bring me motivation (..I think I got a little distracted to be honest!). Dom is in central Canada working for a seismic company. He's been working pretty much the whole time he's been away, but I'm looking forward to a few days with him at Christmas! Here is Dom laying out cable on the job.

Contentment is the Soul's Worship

This week in Church we had a couple good quotes...

Taken from Hebrews 13:1-8, the Pastor spoke on how to truly love. That love is an action of intentional commitment that goes beyond you and your own self-interest; it is an honour to the Lord and observed by those around you in what you do. I'm sure you can get the gist of what he spoke on by reading the passage above, but I thought that he had it right when he said (for the money verses): we either use money to love people, or we use people to show our love of money (Amy's paraphrase). Next he stated that contentment is the soul's worship.

I think that relates to gratitude in a way. When we show gratitude we are content in what is given to us, whether that is in a relationship, or material possessions, or God's grace. What a beautiful thing to know we are loved by God. I think sometimes we forget, or we are distracted by other things that causes us to to turn away from Him. Only through His grace can we love and be loved since we change and our situations change...making us rather inconsistent. But He never does, and that in itself allows us to love others consistently - in Him. Thanks be to God! :)

A Visit from My Parents

This past weekend I had my parents down from Ontario to visit. They had seen the school already, but the house I was staying in and basically everything else about life in Philadelphia was not experienced yet!

One of the main things that they wanted to try down here was golf courses. So though this is the coldest weekend we've had up to now we went out and took in some golf. Yep, we froze. Just grin and bear it for 3.5 hrs until you can no longer feel your fingers grip the club! ...that was when I parred a hole. Hmm... so maybe the moral of the story is that I'm a better golfer when I'm frozen! Though, the bulkiness of all the layers I had on made my swing a bit ridiculous! A good experience over all :)

Other than the cold, we enjoyed experiencing the King of Prussia Mall (the one referred to all the time in 'The Office'). Though Dad had a harrowing experience there, it was fun for Mom to see stores like Macy's and Bloomingdales.

We also went to Valley Forge National Historic Park for the beauty and knowledge of past events. I didn't know that only one guy died from fighting! Thousands of people died from the cold and disease at Valley Forge! That is very sad...

And so, here are my parents standing outside of the home of Washington.