Matthew 25:31-40

When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

"Then the king will say to those on his right, "Come you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in Parisian and you came to visit me.

" Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison to go visit you?

"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'

Tonight, I listened to the most powerful sermon, possibly of my life thus far. It was so thought provoking, emotional, and uncomfortable. We talked about Justice in the world and we had a guest speaker come in from the International Justice Mission. He really made me think about all the injustice in the world and how we have to kick the darkness into the closet until it bleeds daylight. I can't just sit around anymore and pretend like this isn't happening.

International Justice Mission is a human rights agency that secures justice for victims of slavery, sexual exploitation and other forms of violent oppression. IJM lawyers, investigators and aftercare professionals work with local governments to ensure victim rescue, to prosecute perpetrators and to strengthen the community and civic factors that promote functioning public justice systems.

IJM's justice professionals work in their communities in 12 countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America to secure tangible and sustainable protection of national laws through local court systems.

In the tradition of heroic Christian leaders like abolitionist William Wilberforce and transformational leaders like Mother Teresa and Martin Luther King, Jr., IJM’s staff stand against violent oppression in response to the Bible’s call to justice (Isaiah 1:17): Seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.

IJM seeks to restore to victims of oppression the things that God intends for them: their lives, their liberty, their dignity, the fruits of their labor. By defending and protecting individual human rights, IJM seeks to engender hope and transformation for those it serves and restore a witness of courage in places of oppressive violence. IJM helps victims of oppression regardless of their religion, ethnicity, or gender.

Just think, people pay around $40 for the life of a human. To take them and oppressed them in slavery where they are beaten, raped, tortured, and eventually wind up dead. They are never free, trying to work off debts that they can't pay back because the owners add a %500 interest rate per year. It's not right, its not just. Like it says in Matthew 25 by helping out our brothers and sisters of this world we are helping him and serving him.

Heres the website for IJM, I please encourage you just to take a quick look. http://www.ijm.org/

Weekend

This weekend was such a blast, I was so busy going out with my friends and setting up and unpacking things in my apartment. Thursday evening two of my best friends Steph and Britt turned 19. For a theme the went with Nerdy and flirty...it was so great I think we were all so surprised at how many people actually dressed up like nerds and came to studio with us. It was so funny to see my friends dressed up. I of course being me left my costume to the last minute...I eventually made use of my old cardboard box and decided I would be pi (3.14 ext). The costume turned out great...however was destroyed by the end of the night! Enjoy the photos below!
Best Friends!



Last night was the UofL ORS Toga Cab, which also turned out to be great....like always I figured out what I was going to wear last minute. I have a lot of sweet things from forever 21 which I put to good use! A lot of people had started their drinking a 4pm and most had to be put in bed by 11! It was a fun night and I'm super happy with how my toga outfit turned out. It was so much fun

Linda and I

My loves!

I truly am so thankful for all of my wonderful friends! They are the best and always know how to make me happy and laugh! They are truly special to me and I will miss them a lot when I leave Lethbridge and school!

FYI

take one guess, I will update my weekend tomorrow.

Good Luck

I just wanted to wish my brother Jon the best of luck as he starts his first Canada tour today, there is nothing more exhausting then playing rugby at this type of level for 10 days straight...trust me...its horrible! You're up at 7 and in bed by 8. Filled with fitness, drills and then chalk talk! I am so stoked to see him play in Van city next weekend!

Win-day!

Today was Wednesday...and it was a good day. A productive day that dealt with a lot of laughter, healing, hardships and firsts! My firsts for today was picking up my new couch (or should I say futon)...I picked it up from a man who turned out to be a crazy cat man...instead of a crazy cat women...talk about role reversal. It also turns out that he took apart the futon. Now you may say...hey that isn't to big of a deal it is really easy just to built back up again. Think again...I am the MOST challenged person when it comes to handy work and maintenance type chores. Therefore I rely on 3 people to aid me. 1. Scott 2.My dad 3. Joel. I almost put my futon together without tightening the screwy things but thankfully Joel reminded me. It feels great knowing I did this by myself...with the help of a youtube tutorial and friends! Here is the final product!



Give thanks to God because life is good. I feel so loved by my family and friends and am so blessed to have them in my life. I have been impacted by so many people in so many different ways by my family and friends sharing their gifts with me. For example how to put a couch together! I am grateful! I feel like now also I can start over again...I am alone in my apartment in my new suave bachelorette pad and I am enjoying the peacefulness of living alone. I have begun to let go of what was once here in my apartment. Moving on is the best thing for me to do.

So today was a winner for me, It's been full of realizations and letting go of a lot of things that I have been holding on for far to long!

All my love.

p.s Tomorrow is Steph's and Birtts 19th birthday! It's nerd themed here's a hint for my costume

3.14.. I pretty much gave it away!

My Best Friend

Let me tell you about my lil' gal pal aka best friend. Stephanie Reynolds is the greatest hippie loving, tree-hugging, vegetarian and funniest friend that I have had in my life. I feel like my soul would be incomplete with out her. I'm glad I have someone who I can share the same values and morals with...as well as our sense of humor. We like to be stupid and we could go for hours in one room without talking and it still wouldn't be awkward. Stephanie is also really smart...probably 10x smarter then the average student. She is truly a gift from God to me and is one of the few people who own fisherman pants like me! (Hers are cooler because they have a pocket.) She also talks to my mother regularly on Black Berry Messenger...


Anyways...thank you God for bringing Steph into my life. I wouldn't be the same person I am today without her.

I am going to bed now...all my lovin.

P.S Steph I know you are reading this...I want you to get a blog ASAP so I can creep your life even more <3

Memories

So as some of you may know I have a hobby, this hobby is photography. All the photos below are my own work and editing. I know I am not skilled or amazing but its something that I am so proud of doing. When I look at these photos I feel like I have accomplished something and I can look back and remember what I was doing at that time. Most of these photos were taking in the summer of 09', I am still so new to photography and I can't wait to grow more as I go about photographing more things! These are the photos that I have on my lap top right now, the rest are at home waiting for me to sift through and edit all of them! I apologize as the photos are not the best quality due to the uploading and how they become a little bit distorted.

Looking back at all of these photos for sure makes me remember the awesome times that I had last summer while working at camp. It was the most difficult job of my life but I'm so glad I served there as I look back on my experience. It was a hard choice for me but I have decided to move back to Sylvan Lake for the summer and live and work at camp! I can't wait...I found some photos and decided to share them with you!

For sure one of the funniest days I had with Skriver and Adam
I have never had one individual who has made me laugh so hard in my whole laugh every time I talk to him. He was the inventor of love units!
The support staff went through a Photo booth phase, there are so many hilarious moments and photos but this is for sure one of my favorites!
Soccer Camp....that's all

Berg, she is so great!

Obviously this place and the people hold a very special place in my heart! On another note I have realized that I have become addicted to facebook, I am such a facebook goon and need to do something with me life. My best friend Steph and I have decided to make a facebook pact...I will tell you how this one goes....I need a fbook detox!

all of my lovin.

Nomadic Living

Guess who gets to live in a Tipee, hike, canoe, and hang out with rad kids for the spring!? ME! I just got an email from Camp Chief Hector offering me a job in the environmental sciences camp that they have there! I am so stoked and relieved to know that I have a job when my semester ends! Also since the program is 6 weeks I get to move to Sylvan Lake right after and live there again for the summer! It seems although my life has been rather chaotic things are coming together and I am so blessed and have God to thank for all the awesome opportunities that I have been getting! I am so excited to live out in Kananaskis for almost two months...I know this will be such a great experience since I love it out there so much!


Also the photo above tells the story of an Epic snow shoe adventure I had with my camp friends Graham, Katrina and Steph! It was probably one of the best days that I have had in awhile! We snow shoed, laughed, and even shed some tears of pain but in the end it was so worth it. My best friend Steph brought her Canon d60 (I think) and took some sweet photos! It was so cold in the morning that our eyelashes and hair froze! Enjoy some of the photos below!










On another happy note I went to the doctor bright and early this morning and got my cast taken off! I am so happy...I spent close to four weeks in that CLUNKY thing! I am however sad that I can't show of my bedazzled cast off to everyone...or have an excuse to use the elevator in the Fine Arts building anymore (those 10 flights of Stairs a PURE hell to walk up and down every day). Still it means that I have no cast for my lady lovers Steph and Britts 19th!

all my lovin.

Choices

'Everything you want in life has a price connected to it. There's a price to pay if you want to make things better, a price to pay just for leaving things as they are, a price for everything'

Never did I expect to be making such big decisions and choices about my life at this very moment. I am very conflicted and lost with what I should do. Either way I will be gaining things and sacrificing things. I guess it just comes down to what I am willing to sacrifice and let go of when the time comes.

I am leaving UofL after my spring semester and I have had a very good opportunity and offer from UofC to play Rugby back home in Calgary. However this means leaving everything I have in Lethbridge behind. I'm not sure if I am ready to let go of this place yet. I have learned so many lessons, and gained so many people who play a big role in my life.

I just need to do what will make me happy, but I'm not sure what will yet.

All of my confused loving!

Life Changes

So to start off I have some really exciting news for you all, I might as well just drop the bomb. I am leaving UofL after my spring semester. HOLD the phone, however I am enrolling in Lethbridge College to go into nursing. I have thought long and hard about this and I am sure that this is what I want to do with my life. So I guess you can call me a university drop out! I love UofL and my program..but nursing is my calling. I feel from not only myself but from God that this is what I need to do! I was sent here to help people! I am super stoked to turn over a new leaf and start a new chapter in my life!

Also I am back home in Calgary this weekend! Super stoked to be back hanging out with my family and friends! I love them dearly! I am planning on doing some house shopping with Momma C tomorrow as well as getting my hair done..my split ends are destroying me inside! Also on a good note I found the perfect futon/couch that I wanted..and ITS ONLY A $100...I now owe my life to kijiji.com such a great place! You can find cheap things online there!

Tonight was a rowdy night...it was one of our family friends 50th birthday. I've never seen adults get so rowdy in my life...this includes exploding things, doing shots, and dancing monkeys as well as using megaphones and whistles to try and get everyone's attention. While the adults were out having one wild time, four of the younger adults (Bart, Jenna, Jon and I...some of my oldest friends that I have!) played it safe in the kiddy corner with fake apple berry champagne and good old dutch blitz! What is dutch blitz you ask? Dutch blitz is by far THE best card game that I have ever played in my life. It can get very physical when you are throwing out the elbows and throwing out cards. If you don't have this game I suggest that you invest...it's worth every penny and will keep you amused for hours!

Well thats about it! All of my loving!

Thursday

It's Thursday today, and I would like to announce that today is a sad, sad day. The Jersey Shore season finale is on tonight. I have become very attached to this show and am now very sad that it has come to an end, we all know how important those fist pumping guidos mean to North America.

Thats all, all my loving.

Second Semester

Well, I have officialy survived my first semester of University! I think it went pretty good. I have made a TON of new awesome friends and have fallen in love with the little city of lethbridge. I am still in my apartment and it is treating me not so great, it's slowly falling apart on me! But hey could be worse! finished with all high grades, minus socio 1000 the class that truly is the bane of my exsistence! I also have some big changes in my life as well! I have switched my majors to Anthropology, I havn't declared a minor yet and I don't know if I ever will! I love it so far and enjoy my classes, proffs and class mates.

Also apparently I was dancing a little to hard at studio two weeks ago and broke my foot, this is sad and sucky. I fractured a few bones on the top of my foot and now have to drag a 10 pound air cast with me for two more weeks! Thank the lord, I have had such great friends who drive me around and help me out! I have come to realize that I have been going out way to much, even though most of that time it's me driving my intoxicated friends home. I don't mind that as much but I still find that going to the bar 3 or 4 times a week is a little to much for me. I have really cut down on going out since I have got back in the past 20ish days I have only been out 3 times...which I think is actuall a record since I have moved here! I am really proud of myself!!

My classes this semester seem to be going well, I am in a few GLER's but also 2 Anthro classes which I am enjoying a lot! I am taking Geography 1010, Drama 1000, and World Religion 1000, Anthro 2200 The Ethnographic Imagination and Anthro 2510 Cultural Linguistics! I feel like this semster will be busy but not as hard as the last!

Well I have small group at 7 pm tonight so I better log off and get ready!

All of my loving!

2010

Well, I guess I haven't been keeping up so well with my promise of blogging daily, my bad. I've just been swamped with exams, school and my social life. So my apologies to my readers (if there are any of you). Anyways my Christmas break was good, it felt nice to be home again with my family. I didn't see a lot of high school friends since I was either busy working our outdoors adventuring in Kanaskis whether it was skiing, snowshoeing or hiking =) I swear I will give you all an update soon!

Much Love!