Happy One Hundredth!

Yesterday Bella Dobni, one of the residents of the care home where I used to work, turned 100. I had decided some time ago that I wanted to make her a cake. It's not every day that you get the opportunity to make a hundredth birthday cake!



The base tier was chocolate fudge, the middle tier was butter pecan and the top tier was french vanilla. It was iced in butter cream with fondant numbers and a fondant banner. It was my first time using real flowers on a cake. I wasn't completely satisfied with how it worked out but it was something to learn from for the next time. The evening before I went to five different stores before I found white roses. I was beginning to worry but my perseverance payed off and I found some pretty nice ones. The care home put on a big BBQ to celebrate and all of the resident's families were invited. It is apparently going to become an annual event. The cake was a big hit with everyone. Bella loved it which made me very happy.

Bella with her cake. She looks pretty good for 100!

Cake Wrecks

Last week Lisa introduced me to the Cake Wrecks Blog. The subtitle of the blog is "When professional cakes go horribly, hilariously wrong." This blog has given me much amusement. Go check it out, it's worth it!

Another Cake :)

On Sunday night my friend Jennifer Wallace sent me a message on facebook asking if I could decorate a cake for Jessica, her sister in law, and her daughter, Addyson's baby shower that was going to be on Friday evening. In the back of my mind I knew that there was a possibility that I would be moving to Regina this weekend but I agreed to make the cake anyway. Jennifer gave me creative license on the project and this is what I ended up with.


It was two layers, one chocolate and one vanilla. Iced in butter cream and the details are done in fondant. Jennifer did tell me that Jessica's favorite color is blue even though Addyson is a girl. So I tried to incorporate the blue without making the cake look like it was for a baby boy. The little pink footprints were made using a mold. The cake was a big hit at the shower which made me happy.

My Next Step

I find it interesting and somewhat amusing that my life never seems to go the way I plan it. God likes to mix things up on me. While I was in India I did a lot of praying about what I would do when I got back to Canada. There was really only one thing that was clear to me and that was that I needed to spend some time in Canada for a while and not run off to another foreigner country for an extended period of time, which had been my original plan. I knew coming back to Canada that I needed to take some time to take care of some health issues before I could go back to work. I am very glad that antibiotics cleared up the bacterial infection that I picked up while in India and I've started some new treatment for my sciatic nerve problems. (Look for more info on that in a future blog post.)

I knew that with the back pain I've been experiencing for so long that I would not be able to return to my former job at the personal care home even though I loved that job. I did think that maybe I could take an eight month program geared toward that field while I tried to get my back straightened out. I wasn't super keen on the idea of going back to school right now but I decided that I would do my part of sending in an application and that God could decide from there. I sent in my application while I was still in India and I was pretty confident that I would get in. I was actually pretty shocked when some circumstances out of my control arose that delayed me acceptance until it was too late and all the places were filled. "Um, ok God. I did say it was your decision on whether I got in or not. So what do you have you sleeve for me now???"

Shortly after I had returned from India and before I had found out that I wasn't going to school I had received an email from Stan Helton, the dean of Western Christian College, asking if I would be looking for work in the fall. That wasn't in my plans but out of curiosity I replied asking why. He informed me that there was a likely possibility he would be in need of a new college registrar and he thought I would be a could candidate for the job. To be completely honest, I laughed out loud when I got that email. I can't help but wonder if God was laughing right along with me, knowing exactly what he was planning.

Some different things happened that lead me to at least begin praying about whether I should apply for the position. In the end I submitted my resume with the mindset that I took the step but that it was God's decision from there. On Thursday I got a call from WCC offering me the position starting on Monday. And God, being the amazing God that he is, already had a home and roommate lined up for me before I even got the job!

In some ways I am sad to be leaving Saskatoon again so soon. I love being close to my family, Lisa, Paul and Cadence and I love the church here. At the same time Regina is not too far from Saskatoon that I can't make regular trips back here. I'm already planning on being back next weekend. And I do have a lot of good friends in Regina as well. I'm both excited and nervous about this new phase of my life that is about to start. Mostly I am excited about the ministry opportunity that this new job is. God is so good to me and I am so grateful!

Memories of a Friend Gone Too Soon.

One year ago today my friend Brian Windell was killed in a car accident. Brian and I graduated together from Western Christian College in 1999. The news of his death came as a horrifying shock to me. I have thought of him and his family often over this last year. There are many emotions involved when someone you care about leaves this world. It's because of my struggle to deal with those emotions that I haven't written anything about this before now. In some ways I still don't feel ready to write.

Brian was a good friend. Always there with an ear to listen and an encouraging word or simply a shoulder to cry on, if that was what was needed. I have fond memories of camp fire devos, late night walks and deep conversations. The high school drama team had a performance in Bozeman, Montana once and Brian tagged along to visit family. On the drive back home, there were some amazing northern lights in the sky. It turned out that Brian had never seen them before. It was hard for me to decide which to watch, the lights in the sky or Brian's amazement at God's magnificent display. Another memory that sticks out in my mind is of our grade 12 camping trip. A lot of crazy things happened that weekend including blowing up part of a chimney with a butane cartridge from a cordless curling iron late one night. Brian loved playing with fire. After we had been sufficiently reamed out by Momma G the group of us decided to go for a walk. For some reason everyone else lagged way behind and it ended up just being Brian and I for a long time. I wish I could remember the details of our conversation that night but I can't. I do remember we shared about some of our struggles and our goals and dreams for the future. Eventually the rest of our group caught up to us and Brian had the idea of hiding in the ditch until they had gone past us. He looked at me and asked if I could scream, I simply grinned and then screamed at the top of my lungs. We could hear one of our friends, Jeannie, get really upset and the rest of them trying to calm her down and figure out where I was. Brian literally fell to the ground laughing. We shared a pretty good laugh as we all walked back to the campsite. These are just a few of many memories I have of Brian.

After he moved back to the states to go to university Brian and I kept in touch through email. I only saw him two or three times after grade 12 and eventually the frequency of our emails lessened. We may have drifted apart as seems to happen to so many friendships as people go their separate ways but every time we did touch base we picked up exactly where we had left off.

Not very long after hearing of Brian's death I came across my grade 12 address book that had been put together by a classmate. There was room for each student to leave a comment underneath their contact information. Brian wrote about some of his memories from that year, including fire, butane and the northern lights. He finished off by talking about wanting more time to make more memories and wrote, "We'll have plenty of time before long. Just make sure you go to the same place I do. (I'm going up, I like fire and all but not that much)" I never imagined that Brian would be gone so soon. He left behind a wife of five years and an eight month old daughter as well as the rest of his family and friends. I know that we are all looking forward to joining him "up" there one day. Brian's family and friends are especially in my thoughts and prayers today.

August Long Weekend - Parry Reunion '08

On the weekend we surprised my grandmother with a family reunion. Her plan was to spend the weekend at my aunt's cabin up at Crooked Lake but what she didn't know was that all of her grandkids and great grandkids were going to be there. The only person missing was my Uncle Garth who was unable to make it. The idea was hatched by my cousin, Ashley and my sister, Michelle a few months ago. It all came together pretty well. I was convinced that someone had spilled the beans and that Grandma knew what was going on but apparently she was caught completely off guard. It had been many years since the entire family was in the same place at the same time like this. It was such a wonderful weekend for everyone I think. It was really nice to catch up with everyone and meet some of the newer family members whom I hadn't yet met. It was also great meeting my cousin, Rebecca's fiancé, Geoff and my other cousin, Ashley's boyfriend, Carlos who happens to be from Guinea-Bissau and speaks Portuguese. Speaking with him in Portuguese made me very happy! I posted a ton of pictures on facebook so go check it out.

Group shot of the entire family taken on Saturday.

This is the cake that I made to celebrate the occasion. Any excuse to make a cake! This was my first attempt at a tiered cake, turned out pretty good I think.