Saturday, October 31, 2009
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
AGGHHHH!!!
So many of you have been asking,"When is the big move?"
Well, I can say with a moderate amount of confidence that it will probably be mid-January...since our one year assignment and our house lease is up here in Calgary. The past few weeks have been a bit tense to say the least. Shell is having a large re-structuring and this past Friday Earle posted on six different jobs. Everyone who is applying for jobs posted on six different jobs last week. So, we will find out American Thanksgiving week, which of those six, if any that we get. And we should know that week where we are going. The Shell Employees have been told that they will hear nothing until then. And then today, Earle got an e-mail saying that there were over 1200 people that had applied for jobs last week...and they only have between 500 and 600 jobs. So there is a small chance that Earle could be placed somewhere that he did not apply or he could be sent back to the States with a severance package and no job. We know God has a plan. We feel pretty confident that he will end up with a job, but it is still VERY nerve wracking!! So for the next few weeks we are just supposed to try and think about something else. If you think of it, please keep us in your prayers!! Have a good week!
CB
Well, I can say with a moderate amount of confidence that it will probably be mid-January...since our one year assignment and our house lease is up here in Calgary. The past few weeks have been a bit tense to say the least. Shell is having a large re-structuring and this past Friday Earle posted on six different jobs. Everyone who is applying for jobs posted on six different jobs last week. So, we will find out American Thanksgiving week, which of those six, if any that we get. And we should know that week where we are going. The Shell Employees have been told that they will hear nothing until then. And then today, Earle got an e-mail saying that there were over 1200 people that had applied for jobs last week...and they only have between 500 and 600 jobs. So there is a small chance that Earle could be placed somewhere that he did not apply or he could be sent back to the States with a severance package and no job. We know God has a plan. We feel pretty confident that he will end up with a job, but it is still VERY nerve wracking!! So for the next few weeks we are just supposed to try and think about something else. If you think of it, please keep us in your prayers!! Have a good week!
CB
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Led By the Spirit....
I had two interesting experiences this week that I wanted to share. We have been studying "Being Led by the Spirit" at church. I had two instances this week were I feel that "The Spirit" was really leading me.
First, I went with a friend on Thursday evening to a dinner with a bunch of buisness women in the community. It was entitled, "Women and Wisdom." We were to go and have a nice dinner and hear a speaker impart some wisdom to us. We however did not know what the speaker was speaking on or who it would be. So after arriving we realized that the speaker was somewhat famous psychic. She had been on The Tyra Banks show multiple times and was there to speak to us about empowerment and taking hold of our lives. My friend and I are both Christians and as the speaker spoke we felt a bit uncomfortable....when she used the terms like, "the universe wants you to do this or that." Although it was extremely interesting, I found myself seeing what she was speaking about but with a different explantion. She spoke about using your intuition etc and having time each day to "GO within yourself" for answers etc.
I believe that we can pray for God to impart wisdom on us and intervene in situations and give us insight...and that my intuition is based on the holy spirit within me....
Anyway, after the end of her session she did an audience participation reading where you could raise your hand and she would answer a question for you. If you did not get a question answered she told us that we could each e-mail her one question for her to give us a reading on. Uhm...it is quite tempting for me to do...but I am not going to. It is hard not to get sucked into this kind of thing if it is pretty much handed to you...and you land in an interesting circumstance. While my friend an I were quietly talking after the session was over about what we thought, another lady from across the table came an crouched down between us and she said, "I want to know what you ladies think about what the speaker talked about tonight."
I almost choked on my words, but I started out by uttering , "Well, I am a Christian." And my friend jumped in and said, "I am a Christian too.." And the lady who had come to talk to us said, "I am a Christian too..and I could tell by the looks on your faces that you were too."
It opened up a time for the three of us to talk about our beliefs and how we feel the Holy Spirit working in our lives and how we all felt like we needed to flee from this type of thing, no matter how alluring it might seem. It felt good to be able to relate to each other in a room where a hundred pretty successful ladies were in, we three Christ believers were definately not in the majority. It made me think of the verse in Matthew..."For where two or three come together in my name, there I am with them."
The second situation happened this morning in church services. I LOVE Calgary Church of Christ! It is an inner-city church that is VERY multi-cultural! I love taking my children to a place where everyone is the same no matter what they look like or what their circumstance may be. I want them to treat others always with the love that God gives us. So here is where The Spirit was working on me.
There is a difference between volunteering to help someone who needs it..and accepting them as an equal in your world...and I think that the first of the two is easier to do. We had been sitting there only for a couple of minutes and a homeless couple came and sat down right next to us in the pew. I noticed and thought that it was great that they were there...but then the Devil started working on me and my pride issues. I then started praying to ask God to take away any judgemental thought I was having because I knew that the pureness of the worship and praise that this couple was giving to God was more pleasing to him than mine. Collin kept saying loudly, "Smells like amal, mommy....smells like amal" (smells like an animal). Why can't two year olds whisper??!! I was horrified that he was saying this and would not stop, but hopefully no one but Earle and I could really understand what he was saying. He repeated this for quite a while. These people were so joyful in their praise. I felt ashamed that my son was pointing out smells and such...but he really did not know what he was doing. Then came time for communion. The plate of bread came down the pew...them first, then us. I have to admit, I was a bit worried about the germ factor. I feel ashamed that I had these thoughts. It made me realize how prideful I have become. I felt joy that these people feel comfortable enough to come in to our church. I prayed for forgiveness for my pride all through church. After services were over, I went and introduced myself and shook their hands. They were warm, kind hands and I was glad I did! I hope they come back and I hope they sit next to us again. So anyway, I tell this to confess, my pride and let you know that I was truly humbled. I love being a part of such a loving church that reaches out to so many people and does not treat people as a project, but rather as a part of a family. I am pretty sure that is how Jesus would want it.
On a side note...if you live in Calgary and would like to help the homeless community this holiday season, my friend Brandi is organizing the Calgary Homeless Wish List.
You can become a fan on facebook and there are many ways you can help, either by volunteering or donating. Definitely check it out!
Hope you have a good week!
CB
First, I went with a friend on Thursday evening to a dinner with a bunch of buisness women in the community. It was entitled, "Women and Wisdom." We were to go and have a nice dinner and hear a speaker impart some wisdom to us. We however did not know what the speaker was speaking on or who it would be. So after arriving we realized that the speaker was somewhat famous psychic. She had been on The Tyra Banks show multiple times and was there to speak to us about empowerment and taking hold of our lives. My friend and I are both Christians and as the speaker spoke we felt a bit uncomfortable....when she used the terms like, "the universe wants you to do this or that." Although it was extremely interesting, I found myself seeing what she was speaking about but with a different explantion. She spoke about using your intuition etc and having time each day to "GO within yourself" for answers etc.
I believe that we can pray for God to impart wisdom on us and intervene in situations and give us insight...and that my intuition is based on the holy spirit within me....
Anyway, after the end of her session she did an audience participation reading where you could raise your hand and she would answer a question for you. If you did not get a question answered she told us that we could each e-mail her one question for her to give us a reading on. Uhm...it is quite tempting for me to do...but I am not going to. It is hard not to get sucked into this kind of thing if it is pretty much handed to you...and you land in an interesting circumstance. While my friend an I were quietly talking after the session was over about what we thought, another lady from across the table came an crouched down between us and she said, "I want to know what you ladies think about what the speaker talked about tonight."
I almost choked on my words, but I started out by uttering , "Well, I am a Christian." And my friend jumped in and said, "I am a Christian too.." And the lady who had come to talk to us said, "I am a Christian too..and I could tell by the looks on your faces that you were too."
It opened up a time for the three of us to talk about our beliefs and how we feel the Holy Spirit working in our lives and how we all felt like we needed to flee from this type of thing, no matter how alluring it might seem. It felt good to be able to relate to each other in a room where a hundred pretty successful ladies were in, we three Christ believers were definately not in the majority. It made me think of the verse in Matthew..."For where two or three come together in my name, there I am with them."
The second situation happened this morning in church services. I LOVE Calgary Church of Christ! It is an inner-city church that is VERY multi-cultural! I love taking my children to a place where everyone is the same no matter what they look like or what their circumstance may be. I want them to treat others always with the love that God gives us. So here is where The Spirit was working on me.
There is a difference between volunteering to help someone who needs it..and accepting them as an equal in your world...and I think that the first of the two is easier to do. We had been sitting there only for a couple of minutes and a homeless couple came and sat down right next to us in the pew. I noticed and thought that it was great that they were there...but then the Devil started working on me and my pride issues. I then started praying to ask God to take away any judgemental thought I was having because I knew that the pureness of the worship and praise that this couple was giving to God was more pleasing to him than mine. Collin kept saying loudly, "Smells like amal, mommy....smells like amal" (smells like an animal). Why can't two year olds whisper??!! I was horrified that he was saying this and would not stop, but hopefully no one but Earle and I could really understand what he was saying. He repeated this for quite a while. These people were so joyful in their praise. I felt ashamed that my son was pointing out smells and such...but he really did not know what he was doing. Then came time for communion. The plate of bread came down the pew...them first, then us. I have to admit, I was a bit worried about the germ factor. I feel ashamed that I had these thoughts. It made me realize how prideful I have become. I felt joy that these people feel comfortable enough to come in to our church. I prayed for forgiveness for my pride all through church. After services were over, I went and introduced myself and shook their hands. They were warm, kind hands and I was glad I did! I hope they come back and I hope they sit next to us again. So anyway, I tell this to confess, my pride and let you know that I was truly humbled. I love being a part of such a loving church that reaches out to so many people and does not treat people as a project, but rather as a part of a family. I am pretty sure that is how Jesus would want it.
On a side note...if you live in Calgary and would like to help the homeless community this holiday season, my friend Brandi is organizing the Calgary Homeless Wish List.
You can become a fan on facebook and there are many ways you can help, either by volunteering or donating. Definitely check it out!
Hope you have a good week!
CB
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Night of the Trick or Treating Vampires....
This is the picture that inspired the story. Unfortunately we had no Halloween coloring books so Ben asked me to draw a picture of a vampire that he could color. My talents lie in music...not art folks, so you may mistake the drawing for one of a five year old! So sad! He did a good job coloring it! He had specifications of course, it must have a cape, sharp teeth, hair, and a trick or treat bag. After this, I found some Halloween printable coloring pages online.
Night of the Trick or Treating Vampires.....
One time there was a vampire going trick or treating and he saw a ghost and he bit him with his teeth. Then he turned into a bat and saw a werewolf and he bit him with his sharp teeth and then he burped. Then the bat said, "excuse me".
The bat flew right into a haunted house and he heard something snoring softly. It was his baby brother bat. They decided that they both wanted to go trick or treating. So they wondered if they were allowed to trick or treat because they were vampires. So they decided that vampires were only allowed trick or treat at haunted houses. They went to trick or treat at a haunted house....and a witch answered the door. They were not scared of the witch because they had a flashlight. So the witch decided to go trick or treating with them too. Then the two vampires and the witch saw a ghost. They were not afraid of ghost because they realized it was just their dad in a ghost costume and mommy was in the witch costume and Ben and Collin were in the vampire costumes and they were just pretending on Halloween. But then as they were walking to the next house they saw a two real vampires and a real witch and a ghost and a goblin. But realized it was just their friends Goran, Piers and their mommy and daddy and the goblin was Henno. It was a fun night trick or treating.
By Ben Brown
Friday, October 16, 2009
6 funny things about Collin
6. I know when he is up from his nap because inevitably a diaper comes flying down the stairs and I hear, "he mommy, I bot diper" (Here mommy, I brought diaper)5. His favorite food right now is Emmy Emmies (Peanut M&Ms)
4. Every time he passes our dog Max, who is always annoyed to be passed, Collin abruptly says, "Sues Me Sur" (Excuse Me Sir) even though we never say that to Max, he did this all on his own.
3. He says his mommy is his"Bef Fren"(Best Friend)
2. He gets very upset if we sing Happy Birthday to anyone but him and gets the saddest look on his face and puts his head down until we sing "Happy Birthday Collin"
1. When his brother is getting in trouble he looks right at him and snidely giggles through his teeth as if it is the most hilarious thing he has ever seen...
I love that sweet boy!!
CB
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Canadian Thanksgiving Weekend with my family
We had a great time over Canadian Thanksgiving with my family. They came up on Thursday and we spent a long weekend up in the mountains in a condo near Banff. We got to do some shopping, and site seeing and horseback riding. It was a great time. I am SO glad they got to come up. When they got their tickets we had no idea it was over Canadian Thanksgiving. We have not planned to go back to the States for the holidays this year because our early January could be a little crazy because of possible moving plans. So it was nice to get to spend a holiday with family. We are back in Calgary to spend the rest of the week. It is a snowy day...we would like to go shopping but are hunkered down in the house waiting for the roads to get a little better before we venture out!
CB
CBTuesday, October 6, 2009
I Spy...
Today in the car...
Ben: Hey Collin do you want to play I Spy?
Collin: Yeah, pay, I PY!!
Ben: Ok, Collin you go first you're the youngest...
Collin: K, umm, I PY lolin's surt?
Ben: No, Collin, you have to pick a color...you have to spy a color...
Collin: K, GEEN!!!!
Ben: Is it your shirt?
Collin: YEAH!!!(said with extreme elation)
The conversations between these two are so cute!!
CB
Ben: Hey Collin do you want to play I Spy?
Collin: Yeah, pay, I PY!!
Ben: Ok, Collin you go first you're the youngest...
Collin: K, umm, I PY lolin's surt?
Ben: No, Collin, you have to pick a color...you have to spy a color...
Collin: K, GEEN!!!!
Ben: Is it your shirt?
Collin: YEAH!!!(said with extreme elation)
The conversations between these two are so cute!!
CB
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