A Reflection on 2007 and Some Speculation Into 2008

December 31st, officially the last day of 2007 and cause for me to reflect on where I was this time last year and what has happened between then and now. It is also cause for me to speculate about the coming year and what it will hold.

This time last year I was relaxing and enjoying the break between semesters, no assignments looming just the promise of a fresh semester and new beginnings. 2007 began for me with the company of friends from both near and far, I spent New Years Eve with Lisa and Paul and Victor...good memories. In 2007 I completed the work required for my bachelor degree in theology and missions. (note I say completed the work, not graduated, because technically I am STILL waiting for my last class to be transfered so I can actually have a diploma...something to look forward to in 2008 I guess.) A highlight of completing that work this year was taking a cultural anthropology class at ACU in May. I was blessed immensely by that experience, saw a lot of old friends and met many new ones. I had my first experience at training an LST team, and a great team we were! I returned to Brazil, the place where my heart lives, for 7 weeks. I left Brazil for the first time not knowing when the next time I would return would be, maybe one of the hardest things I did all year. Included in hard things this year was losing my friend Brian Windell in August. The fact that he's gone is something I am still working through and trying to deal with. In August I also began a new job which I love and which I have already quit, ok so I gave my notice, I still have five days of work left.

And so this is when my mind turns to what 2008 will hold for me. Like I said earlier, five more days of work and some serious packing and getting organized and then I'm off to India. To be completely honest I am very unsure of what to expect from the first five and a half months of 2008. India will be a completely new experience for me. I'm looking forward to getting to know Ray and Ellen better and hopefully to be an encouragement and help to them in their work in India. I also am looking forward to knowing Autumn and Andrew better and hope to be a positive influence in their lives. I'm looking forward to working with Raysha and getting to know her better as well. I'm excited to be in a new country and experience a new culture. I'm excited about the new people I will meet and the friends that I will make. I am excited and bit nervous about the ways in which God is going to grow and change me through this new experience. I am also looking forward to what will be in store for me during the second half of this new year, after I return from India. It's too soon for me to speculate about what life will be like then because so much is going to happen over the next six months. I hope you'll stay tuned in to the blog and accompany me on my journey.

I pray that 2008 will be filled with joy and blessings for you! Happy New Year!

Oh and by the way, there are 8 days left until I leave for India.

Merry Christmas!

Some of you may think I'm late but I'm actually right on time for the Stonehouse family Christmas celebration. Both mom and I were working on the 25th so this year my family celebrated Christmas on the 29th. It was a little bit strange for me this year as it was the first time in my entire life where I haven't had holidays at Christmas. No sleeping in and lazing around for me, just work, work, work this year. It was nice that we were able to take time today as a family. It is most likely the last time that all five of us will be together before I leave for India.

This time of year is a celebration of the coming of our Saviour, Jesus Christ, Immanuel, God with us. God with us! How incredible of a thought is that?! God in the weakest of human forms. I look at the tiny new born babies that are arriving in our congregation right now and I can't help but think of what a contrast it is to have God in that form, tiny and helpless and completely dependent for his physical needs. God, who created and sustains, as a baby.


My challenge for myself and for you this Christmas season is to not leave the baby in the manger. Remember that He came with a purpose and that purpose was accomplished with His death on the cross. But we can't leave him on the cross either because he rose and is alive and is coming back. How can we keep that to ourselves? We have a responsibility to share that with those who don't know. This time of year isn't about a fat man in a red suit coming to visit us, it's about God with us, not only then but now and always!

Merry Christmas everyone.

Oh and by the way, there are 10 days left until I leave for India.

Ten More Random Memories

After writing that ten random memory post I've been thinking of more and more random memories so I'm going to post ten more.

Memory 1 Going over to Lisa's house one evening when her parents were out. We were in the downstairs suite talking. I didn't have permission to spend the night but we decided to pretend like we had fallen asleep down there so that her parents wouldn't be angry that I was still there. Whenever they did finally get home they were actually happy that I was still there so that Lisa hadn't been left alone.

Memory 2 Building "remotes" out of Lego with my brother and pretending that the dragon flies were our remote control helicopters.

Memory 3 My sister calling my brother and I her "kids" back before she was old enough to go to school. It used to drive me absolutely nuts!

Memory 4 I think this one is my earliest memory but I'm not sure how old I was. I was crying but I don't know why and I remember my mom picking me up and carrying me into the bathroom. She was singing "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" you know the whole "you better watch out, you better not cry, you better not pout, I'm telling you why, Santa Claus is coming to town" I also remember her setting me onto the vanity in the bathroom and that's about all I remember. It's a good memory. I love my mom!

Memory 5 Deciding that I wanted to run away from home. My plan was to go live in the hayloft in the barn and sneak into the house at night time to get food. I never did go through with it although I remember occasionally climbing up into the hayloft while mulling over the idea in my mind.

Memory 6 The one and only time I was ever "grounded." I wanted to go outside and play with my friends. My mom had told me I couldn't but I went anyway. When I came back inside later that evening she told me what my punishment was going to be. My class was going on a field trip to see the play "A Christmas Carol" and I was no longer going to be permitted to go. She even made me explain to my teacher why I couldn't go with them. To this day I'm sad that I missed out on seeing that performance.

Memory 7 Riding mattresses down the stairwell in the girls dorms at WCC in Dauphin.

Memory 8 Being in the hospital in Dauphin after having my appendix removed. A bunch of people from school came to visit me and I remember Luke Deal saying that I was only faking it because I didn't want to go to school. I also remember Crystal Downton making me laugh so hard my incision opened up a bit. After I was released from the hospital I got to go stay with Mabel Bailey so that I could rest more than if I went back to living in the dorms. We played Scrabble and I lost terribly!

Memory 9 Having a "slip and slide" in my "backyard" in Brazil. The yard was long and narrow and was done entirely in ceramic tile. We had the youth group from church over as well as all the neighbor kids. We flooded the yard and put some soap out. We set out some empty 2 litre bottles and the kids did human bowling. at one point I slipped and fell and hit my head pretty hard, that's when the fun ended for me.

Memory(ies) 10 I remember when my grandma used to still live out on the farm near Ogema. I used to love going to visit her, I still do for that matter. I remember lots of things from those visits to that house, usually holidays like Easter or Christmas. I remember that on the door to the basement she had a place where she would mark all the grandkids heights when we came to visit. I remember playing on the piano in the basement. I remember the sliding door to the very small bathroom. I remember the rotating shelf in the corner cupboard. I remember that she always had grapes for us to eat. I remember the fireplace. I remember the big picture window with the goopy black cocking around the edges. I remember getting Fisher Price Roller skates for Christmas one year. I remember falling backwards off a stool at the dinner table because I forgot I was sitting on a stool and thought it was a chair. I remember dying Easter eggs at her kitchen table. I remember lots of family gathered together. Lot's of good memories!

Oh and by the way, it's 1:30 in the morning as I am about to post this and there are 19 days left until I leave for India.

He Finally Has A Name

When I started writing this post my poor little fish was still nameless. There were far fewer comments left on my post in which I solicited ideas for names for my fish than I had hoped there would be. The two that I have liked the best so far were Indy and Samson but when I started writing I still hadn't been able to commit as I kept thinking I might find something better. Up until now I have just been referring to him as fish but I've already had a fish in my past who was named Fish. I ran across this website yesterday morning. It's a list of names for male fish. There was also a list of female names here, and a list of "gender free" names here. Some of the names listed made me laugh because I know people by those names, my brother for example. There's also a number of Brazilian names listed there but I still found nothing that I really liked. I've thought more than once about naming him Peixe or Peixinho, the Portuguese words for fish and little fish but it still didn't seem right. I think it's time to finally settle on something and so my poor nameless little fish shall remain nameless no more!

Thank you Heather Smith for your contribution of INDY. When I first read Heather's comment I thought she came up with it because of his colour, like a play on indigo but after talking to her one Sunday morning at church I learned the real reasons. Her idea was because I'm about to leave for India. Also she was reminded of Indiana (Indy) Jones and all of his adventures. I liked the name even more after hearing how she came up with it so Indy it is!

Oh and by the way, there are 21 days left until I leave for India.

One Year Ago Today

A year ago today Salena was here and she and I went to the airport to pick up Victor. For the last couple of days I have been thinking about and remembering last year. Seeing Salena for the first time since we moved back from Brazil, staying up all night catching up with her, surprising Victor with the fact that she was here, and the fun of watching Victor experience a Canadian winter for the first time. The snow and cold seemed much more worthwhile last year because of his presence. I can't help but think that this years Christmas season won't be nearly as much fun as last years. I miss these two very special people a lot!

Quote From Paul

While on the phone with Lisa tonight the topic of me not liking conflict and trying to avoid it came up. Her husband Paul had some very wise words to share on the subject of conflict avoidance. I'm now passing it on to you so that you can ponder the wisdom too.

"You don't avoid conflict, you just collect interest."

Ten Random Memories

Ok, so this post was inspired by my friend Stephen Bell who wrote a ten random memories post on his blog because he had been inspired by a friend who had written a ten random memories post. I wonder how many people we could inspire to write a ten random memories post?? Wanna jump on the band wagon?

Memory 1 Sometime around when I was in grade 4 my friend who lived next door to me and I went to the school yard on a Sunday afternoon to play. It had either been raining or the snow was melting because there was a lot of mud, especially around the small trees that were planted at the edge of the school yard. We were wearing rubber boots and we decided to get our feet buried in the mud around the trees. We got ourselves worked down so far that we couldn't pull our feet back out, we were trapped! We tried everything to free ourselves but only succeeded in getting ourselves more stuck, with the mud even overflowing into our rubber boots. Eventually we started calling for help. After what felt like an eternity a man who lived across the ally heard our cries for help and came and pulled us free from our self inflicted mud prison. I remember feeling very embarrassed but grateful as he picked me up and set me on drier ground and then proceeded to dig out my boots. I also remember getting in big trouble when I showed up at home completely covered in mud. I forgot to mention that I was still wearing my dress clothes which I had worn to church that morning.

Memory 2 Staying up almost all night at Heritage Lake Bible Camp one night. We raided food from the kitchen, cereal if I remember correctly. Eventually we brought our sleeping bags to the fire pit and slept outside. The most memorable part of the night was the most amazing display of northern lights I have ever seen! A quote from Kris Olson while watching the northern lights that night "If you were high you'd be crying"

Memory 3 While living in Brazil I got lost while driving from the city of Itu to the city of Campinas. I was going to exchange mine and my co-worker, Salena's funds for the month from Dollars into Brazilian Reais. I had a Brazilian, Ivan, with me in case I got into any problems. He was pretty much useless. I was supposed to have taken an exit before entering Campinas but somehow I missed it. Before I knew it I was in downtown Campinas in bumper to bumper traffic. I was so nervous about the traffic that I took the first available right turn in hope of getting onto a side street that wouldn't be so busy. I had no idea how to get back to the highway that would take us back to Itu. I prayed out loud for God to help me and the next thing I knew there was a sign directing me to the highway. Ivan and I were headed back to Itu when we decided to turn around and try to find the exit again. The exit we took was going in the wrong direction and by this time it was getting dark. There were hundreds of huge trucks on the highway and I was starting to panic again. I pulled to the side of the road so I could collect myself but as each truck went by the entire vehicle we were in shook with the force of the air gusts. That was even more nerve wracking than driving had been. We got going again and I tried to take a "retorno," a return exit, but it was impossible to slow down and exit because of the heavy amount of traffic. We had already passed at least two retornos and I was getting desperate. It was right around then that Salena called my cell phone to check in on how things were going. I remember thinking, and possibly saying out loud "We're going to die!" as I laid rubber on the Brazilian highway but managed to make the retorno. We drove for a very long time without seeing any sign that indicated we were heading in the right direction to get home again. I can remember the feeling of utter desperation as I was lost in the middle of a foreign country. Ivan's presence should have been a comfort but it was not. The relief I felt when I saw a sign with the name of a familiar town is indescribable.

Memory 4 My siblings and I used to always go tobogganing at what was known as "the sandpit" at our farm. For some reason I decided it would be a good idea to run down the hill. I remember that my body was moving faster than my legs could go and I ended up plowing down the hill face first. The collar of my jacket was the perfect entry for snow and so my entire jacket was filled with snow in the front. That put the end to that days tobogganing fun.

Memory 5 I don't remember how old I was, pretty young though. We were at my grandmother's house for the Christmas holidays I think. We had gone out to eat at a buffet restaurant and I ate A LOT of deep fried shrimp. I ate so much that I was sick that night. It was the worst feeling ever! That could be part of the reason why I have an aversion to seafood now.

Memory 6 The first birthday I spent in Brazil was my 22nd. At midnight on the night before my birthday our neighbor kids through me into the neighborhood swimming pool with all my clothes on. In the morning two ladies from the church had a breakfast basket delivered to my house. It was full of sweet breads, fresh fruit, coffee, tea and all sorts of other goodies. The youth class at church sang happy birthday to me during class and then we had lunch at Phyllis and Antenor's (the missionaries) house. Salena made Eggplant Parmigiana, yummy! After lunch Salena and Ivan took me to Chocolate da Fazenda, The Chocolate Farm. It turned out that half of the church, most of my LST readers and my Portuguese teachers were there to surprise me. There was a really yummy cake with strawberries inside of it. Afterwards the youth group came to our house to hang out for most of the night. It was probably the most memorable birthday I have ever had. I also remember waiting up half the night expecting my family to call and wish me a happy birthday. My adopted Brazilian brother Victor stayed with me as I had a great big pity party that everyone at home had forgotten about me. Kudos to Lisa who called at like 2am to wish me a happy birthday, she was the only one from home who remembered.

Memory 7 Getting busted after I had stolen my baby sister's bottle so that I cold drink the apple juice out of it.

Memory 8 Driving a 15 passenger van full of dorm kids to church one Sunday morning after a night of freezing rain and loosing all control as we slid into what would have been oncoming traffic. I remember praying that God would make us stop as the van was turning around and nearing a chain link fence. Thank God we stopped and that there was no oncoming traffic. We made it to church and by the time service was over the salting crews had been out so most of the ice was gone so it was a much safer drive back to the dorms.

Memory 9 Crawling out the bathroom window on the second floor of the girls dorm of Western Christian College and onto the roof of the business office with my friend Tricia Fischbuch. Our intention was to make a snow man on the roof for everyone to see from the ground. The snow turned out to not be sticky enough so we wrote a very large message in the snow that could be seen from the girls dorm. I think it was "GOD IS GOOD" or maybe "GOD IS LOVE" I can't remember for sure. Tricia took pictures but I never got copies of them...so sad.

Memory 10 A church canoe trip that I went on one summer to Kingsmere Lake with Jennifer Wallace as my canoing partner. The weather that day had been a little windy but we thought we would be able to manage against it. We were hoping to see Grey Owl's Cabin but the weather turned nasty very quickly. We decided to turn around and head back to the campsite where we had spent the previous night. I remember the waves splashing over the gunnels of the canoe. We were using a pail and sponges to try to bail out the water. I remember the exact moment when I realized that our efforts were useless. The water was pouring over the bow of the canoe. I tried to push myself furhter back in the canoe and that was when I realized that our whole canoe was about to go under. The water was extremely cold. I remember holding on to the capsized canoe and then having to swim to another canoe that was still upright. It seemed like I had no energy left at all as I tried to lift myself from the cold and raging waters into the canoe. By the time I got into it I was absolutely frozen and all I could think about was that I could no longer see Jennifer. The wind had been blowing us further and further apart. I remember having a tarp wrapped around me to try and keep the wind of my soaking body. All I could think about was not being able to see Jennifer. I was given a paddle and even though it felt like every ounce of energy had been drained from my body I paddle with all the strength I could muster as we tried to make our way to get Jennifer. I remember not wanting to even look at the waves I was so afraid. I also remember the relief I felt when they dragged Jennifer into a canoe and telling them that she needed to have something to drink because she was diabetic. Thankfully there had been a couple of people in our group who had been using kayaks and who had gone on ahead of us. They didn't know about what was going on but when we still hadn't returned to the campsite in so long they went looking for the forest ranger. What a feeling of relief to see him coming towards us in his motor boat. He took Jennifer and I back to his cabin where he started a fire so that we could dry out and warm up. He then went back and retrieved the rest of our group. We camped that night in the same place we had camped the night before. The next day we decided to cut the trip short and make the portage back out and head home.

Gum Paste Roses

Micheal's Craft Store offered a one night class on making gum paste roses. There were only two of us who took the class which in my opinion was a good thing because the instructor was more available than if there had been a whole room of people. It was fun to learn how to work with a new medium for cake decorating. Working with gum paste is actually a lot like working with play dough...a more mature play dough I guess you could say. In two and half hours I was able to make 4 roses. Keep in mind that I was just learning how to do it so it took longer than simply making them. I think that with practice it would take less time but it is certainly a painstaking process. I was pretty pleased with the way they turned out for being my first attempt at them.

Happy Birthday Lisa Jane

Yesterday was my best friend's birthday. Friendship is a rare and precious thing to find in this life. I consider myself blessed because I have a friend, who understands me and accepts me just the way I am. She loves me no matter what and she challenges me to be more Christlike in all that I do. Lisa and I met in grade 8. I had just started at a new school and was an extremely shy and timid kid. Lisa was the first person to talk to me and now we laugh about the fact that it took three days before she even said hello. :) Over the years, she and I have laughed together, we've cried together and we've even argued together. It is interesting to note that for the most part we can't even remember why we ever argued. Lisa is my best friend and I am so thankful for her. Our friendship has endured time and distance. It has been 13 years since she and I became friends and we have remained close even when we've lived in separate places. Lisa, I appreciate everything about you! Thank you for always being there for me no matter what the need and no matter how small or great the distance was between us. You are a true gift from God. I love you! Happy Birthday!

Let Them Eat Cake!

In October Monica Taylor invited me to take a Wilton cake decorating class with her at Micheal's. Monica and I took Course 1 together. Course 1 is basically an introduction to cake decorating. I've decorated a number of cakes before and so I really didn't know what I would get out of the class. The long and the short of it is that I had a blast. I learned a lot of neat tricks and techniques for cake decorating. I also learned how to make roses which was probably the highlight for me. In course 1 we decorated 3 cakes, one per class minus the first class which was all demo. I only actually finished one of those cake for various reasons. It was the first one we did and was pretty basic using the star tip technique.

My only finished cake from Course 1.

My final cake from Course 1 that I never finished.

Then in November I took Course 2 by myself. Course 2 focuses on boarders and flowers. Each class in Course 2 was spent learning to make various flowers out of Royal Icing. I learned to make Rosebuds, Chrysanthemums, Apple Blossoms, Violets, Victorian Roses, Daisies, Daffodils, Pansies, and Primroses as well as how to do basket weave and rope borders. I think that I enjoyed Course 2 even more than Course 1 if that is possible. I learned so much in both classes and had a lot of fun doing it. At our last class we were to assemble our grand finale cake that incorporated all the techniques that we had learned throughout the course. My cake was assembled at home but I did finish it. I think it turned out pretty good. But really who wants to eat something that looks that pretty?



On Friday I made a birthday cake for Lisa. It was basically what my final cake from Course 1 would have looked like had I finished it but with the added touches of basket weave on the sides and a rope boarder.



Micheal's isn't offering Course 3, which is on fondant and tiered cakes, before I leave for India but I am taking a one day course on how to make roses from gum paste this upcoming Tuesday. Should be a good time. I'm not sure that I'll have reason or time to make and decorate any more cakes before I'm off to India in a little over a month but I hope to do lots more cakes in the future.