Lost my Audience

I have been thinking about blogging - I think I might have lost my audience. IF you want me to write and post pictures could you just write a comment so I know? I don't think anyone is reading and I actually write for others, not for myself. I journal for my own pleasure. SO here's the deal. I want at least 5 people who say they regularly come here to check out what I put on her or I'll assume that indeed, I did lose the massive audience I once had :) HA! I'd love to be wrong on this so surprise me!

Forgive me...

I am going to have to grovel for a while here... I can't believe it has so long since I wrote... forgive me. I will get on it right away. I am sorry is been so long, LOTs has happened in these past 2 months :) Updates coming.

It worked once... it could work again...

Dalat International School - Where I live, love and serve

Hey there faithful few - I have a whole line up of new Blog posts waiting to be posted so stay tuned BUT until then -

I have a very important announcement.

Last year, about this time, my life changed because I read a friend's blog and there was a link to Dalat International School's website to check out all the new job postings for this year.I am going to do that today so if you know of God-lovers who want to step out and serve Jesus in a beautiful place with students from 25 countries and staff that is world-class, Dalat might be the place for you. We have modest salary/living allowance to offer and have room for teachers, dorm staff, and even for an elementary school principal! All the info is at this link so check it out - pray it out and if you feel lead, walk it out. He knows exactly who He will call to our staff next year - but its those who say, "Yes, LORD, Send me" and come who He will use to change etertnity.

GO to
http://www.dalat.org/jweb/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=118&Itemid=160
For access to an adventure of a lifetime...

There is Only ONE First, unless there are two...

Tabitha and Kris Pagan are missionaries in Thailand but our history is connected in a city called Moose Jaw that I like to call 'home'. Tabitha and I worked together at Cornerstone Christian School. I taught, she was the hands on TA for a kid who needed a little tough love, every day. We were aquaintances, friendly and liked each other lots.

Tabitha and Kris go to the same church as my sister Carley in Moose Jaw and Carley and Tab are dearest friends, they have spirit-led the worship team there for a while and then Tab and Kris moved back to Thailand. They do that cause they love the people and serving there! God calls them back and cares for their needs. Pray for them as they serve Him in Thailand (near Bangkok) and for the fruit to keep on overwhelming them with His goodness!

They were my first visitors here in Penang and they came in December. I got to take them out and spoil them and love on them while they were here and we had a lot of fun. Tab and I went and got all beautified one of the days we were together. They were a great start to my Christmas Holidays and ironically, made me miss home MORE, not less. Kris hand-carried my Christmas cards back to Canada for me and Birthday presents for the adults in my family for this year. What a blessing they are! Thanks for coming! Tell everyone how awesome it was to visit me - I love guests from Canada!

Jesus is the Reason?

I am praying that you would have the best Christmas. Enjoy the friends and family and prosperity you have but please don't forget to celebrate the birth of our Jesus. If you are anything like me it will have to be a choice. I am still being intentional in pursuing what God has layed on my heart - I will choose to include the KING OF kings and LORD OF lords both on Christmas day intentionally - as a choice - my hope being that one day it will become as natural to include Him as it has become to unknowingly exclude Him. That is my deepest desire and prayer.

I'd love to hear how you made choices to include Jesus in your celebration this year. Let's encourage one another in taking Christmas back in JESUS mighty Name!

Out of Commission and a new kind of Christmas....

Well soon after my last post - I got very sick. I had a vicious virus that ravaged my body and left me out of commission for 13 days. Annie - who is sitting beside me - gave it to me. She's great at sharing. The first night I was vomitting so violently that I called the Nellie the Nurse at 2:30 am. Since you don't know her, you have no idea how sick I had to have been to call her at 2:30 am. I had thrown up 10 times in 3 hours and had no sign of things getting better. I lost count that night at 15 times - - it wasn't fun to count anymore. I was sick in bed for 4 days straight hydrating myself with energy drink and after that I began to eat crackers and digestives but the cramping and pain that went along with eating anything kept me to that alone for the first 7

days. I slowly recovered over the next week.

This week I have been able to eat normally and I am locating the 10+ lbs I lost last week and trying to stay hydrated.

There are a lot of things heppening this week to come - its the last week of the semester and is going to be busy for sure. 7 of our dorm students will not be back for next semester - some because they are graduating and some because they are moving back to a location where they will be with their parents. For all of them it is the best choice but it will be hard to lose them - I have grown to love them and to care for them deeply and this will be the hardest part of my job - saying goodbye....

Many have been asking what I am doing for Christmas - here's the update:

I will not be going to Canada For my break. I have no rich friends and so the 2500$ it would cost to fly home is not possible or wise when I have to pay for my flight home this summer. I am still hoping that God provides that money sooner than later because I will be staffing an international conference for ACSI (Association of Christian Schools International) in New York. It will be a great time of blending my gifts and my passion for equipping and mentoring as an advisor in the dorming strain. Kristi is going tobe on Staff for Pre-Field Orientation too as well as my good friend Sheryl, so it allows for ministry and fellowship with friends from around the world too.

SO this is what I will be doing this Christmas break in Malaysia...

THIS Sunday I will be having my my sister Carley's best friend Tabitha fly into Penang ! My first guest! I will be spoiling her in fine form. We are known for our food and I will be making sure she has her fill! She is a missionary with her husband in Thailand and I will be heading her way to visit her in January.

School ends next Thursday and then I am off for a while. My dear friend Brandi has offered her beautiful apartment and Toyota to use while she and her husband are in the states. It will be so good to be off campus - it will feel like a holiday. They have a nice pool and its ocean views are so beautiful. She and her girls set up all their Christmas decorations including a tree and and windows FULL of snowflakes so I will feel at home. She is pretty incredible that way. I am well loved. I will be spending some time with friends who are here for the break. We are going to explore this place I live. We are going to Kuala Lumpar for a couple of days with some of them.

When I think about Christmas this year, it just doesn't 'feel' like Christmas. I think that's because it hasn't been the focus. All things "Christmas" will be stripped away this year, no presents, none of the food that I am used to, None of our traditions, no stocking, no snow, no playing games or watching our Christmas movies, my nativity scene that I had lovingly packed up somehow did not make it into my suitcases, no seeing all the people who only come 'home' at Christmas and the sacrafice of all the sacrafices I have had in moving across the world, no family. I will not wake up in the same house as my kid JoAnne which is very hard and I have 8 nieces and nephews who get wads of quality Aunt Lana time at Christmas! I get to have my sisters both there and we love being together. We swim as a family and play games, watch movies and are focusing on each other and time. For someone with a primary love language of quality time - there are few things better in my life.

So now, facing a Christmas that is unlike any Christmas before - I am challenged by God to first acknowledge that Christmas has not really been about Jesus in these past years of my life. Its been about a lot of good things - but it is kind of odd to celebrate something that is named after Christ and supposidly has Him as the central focus and then realize that He hasn't been. SO I am starting some personal traditions this year - time to intentionally invite my Savior to His party. I invite you to keep me accountable and ask what I did on Christmas day. I confessed this revelation to the kids in my dorms during "God Time" this week (devos I do with each dorm each week). I am choosing to be intentional and want these traditions to stick and for Christmas to return to its intended celebration - My Savior, Jesus Christ who came to earth as a baby boy in Bethlehem. He came to save me and I would be living in death without Him in my life. That is something worth celebrating.

On Christmas afternoon, other staff from Dalat who are going to be around for that day, including a couple of close ones will be getting together to eat supper together. I am glad to have some people to celebrate with.

I am also hosting 3 of my friends from Saskatchewan, Melissa and her parents Steve and Colleen. They are all living in Taiwan right now and so will be coming her for their break. They will be coming to Stay with me from the 26th - 29th of December and I am very much looking forward to their visit! I haven't seen Melissa since last summer when she was home but we have been friends since I was in highschool and she is going to be special to me forever. Her parents have always been kind to me and fun to be around!

In the new year I am going to go to Thailand. My friend Bronwyn and I are going to Bankok for a few days and then meeting Shauna and Jasmane in Chaing Mai for a conference with Joyce Meyer and Darlene Zschech from Hillsongs as the worship leader. It will be a lot of fun!! We are looking forward to the Chaing Mai night market which is supposed to be awesome AND I am going to ride an elephant and ride a raft down the river! I am so amazed that this is my life.

I come back here to go to Staff retreat for a couple days and then we have 5 days more to rest before the kids show up. It will be a perfect blend between restful and heart-full.

What are you doing this Christmas to invite Jesus?

OUT OF ORDER

The Posts you are about to see are out of order - but You'll catch on...

It should go - Botanical, Spiritual Retreat, Momma Mia - What I saw today...

I just uploaded the pictures in the other order and then finished the posts and they decided to publish in the order that the pictures were downloaded instead of the order I published them in... Oh for the love of technology!

ENJOY anyway :) I have just made it easier for you to leave a comment so feel free to do so on any or all of these new posts!

Love You all!