HAPPY FRIDAY!!!
May this photo bring you the amount of JOY and LAUGHTER that it brought me and my coworkers this morning 
They look like they know how to party
This is my life as I know it to be
my life, my adventures, my photos
Memory Bank +1
Recently, my Bestie became a member of the “Unemployment Club” – well…. partial unemployment anyways. I was just there not to long ago – as you may remember from all my posts about my free time and lack of a job and such.
Anywaaaaaaaaays! She is jobless and has spent a couple days on her couch watching Criminal Minds. I am ALLLLL for soaking up every minute of the free time and making unemployment count for something – but she has been a little bummed out. 
sad day. So yesterday Jon and I took her out for lunch – well… Jon paid and I was just along for the company [that's besides the point though] then who knows what she did for the remainder of the afternoon [my guess is Criminal Minds and job hunting - in that order] and evening. But after I was done with the gym and din with the G-parents… I picked her up, took Jon a coffee to work and on our way back into town, this idea popped into my head.
So I look at her and say
Me:”We shoulda gone to Edmonton”
[Edmonton is about 2 hrs. away and it is 8:30 pm - one of our friends lives there and Tina hasn't seen her in forevs.]
Tina: ya, that would have been fun
Me: Want to?
T: You have to work at 8:00 am though
M: So what. Do you want to?
T: YESSSSSSSSSS. We need Beef Jerky. YOU ARE THE BEST FRIEND IN THE WORLD!!! [promise she said that... I didn't just make that up]
So there we were, at 8:45 pm leaving the city with pop and Beef Jerky [we always have beef jerky on any road trip we go on - it's tradition] calling Rianna [not to be confused with Rhianna the depressed pop star] to tell her we are picking her up from work at 10 and going to go for coffee. She was excited. Tina was excited. I was excited. Now I am tired. But sometimes you just have to this kind of stuff.
The Soundtrack to our drive was:
N’Sync
Backstreet Boys
Much Dance 1995
John Mayer
Michael Buble [he is a requirement]
RENT Soundtrack
Matt Kearny
Kings of Convenience
Kings of Leon
Snow Patrol
Last Kiss Soundtrack
My dance Music
David Guetta
JAY SEAN!!!!!!!!!
Timbaland
I don’t know if we ever got to listening to Celine Dion… but she was there.
This morning, I got in my car and it is a D.I.S.A.S.T.E.R.
Back in the Day.
Many many moons ago, my friend Ashton and I went on a missions trip to work in Vancouver within the East Hastings area for a while [East Hastings is widely known for its many drug dealers and ever growing homeless population as well as prostitutes, etc.]. I think I was in grade 7 or something like that and had probably never heard of the word “drugs” before so this place was a shocker! It is here that I met a man I will never ever ever forget – nor the words he shared with me that i would like to share with you. After we had finished at this soup kitchen for the evening, we had a sharing time. Some of the group went and gave their testimonies, one guy wanted to share his tapes he had been collecting with us, one had stories and poems he had written. some just wanted to talk into the microphone – it was a lot of fun! I loved these people…
So, I was standing at the mic sharing something – for some reason I think it was a joke or something [ i could have just made that up though... it was a long time ago] and this crazy looking old man jumps up from his chair and screams the following phrase that has never left me – nor do I think it ever will [it even had actions]
“My Name is NOT Jesus [ spreading his arms wide, head tilted back and he roared]
And I am the best Kung Foo [insert jackie chan moves here] Fighter in the world!
I kick like a mule [ imagine a donkey kicking... this is what we saw]
And I bite [gnashed his teeth] like a crocodile [he kinda growled this last part as he straightened his arms before him and slapped them shut - like a crocodiles!]“
And just like that, he sat down and we carried on. I remember his face. I remember his voice. I remember him so vividly. I honestly don’t think I will ever forget him. Or so many other things about this particular trip. The whole thing was a gong show. It was also here that I side stepped to miss a pile of human feces on the sidewalk, only to have a condom get stuck to the bottom of my shoe. Not fun.
Open Your Heart… Then Your Pockets :)
We are all well aware of the devastating earthquake that hit Haiti last week, and many of us know someone who has either gone to Haiti or is in someway involved with this country. It is no secret that Haiti is already one of the poorest nations so news of this earthquake leaves no doubts that they were not prepared for this [can anyone really be prepared for this??]. This has not only torn the country apart and turned countless lives upside down, but has also opened many doors for destruction in ways we don’t even want to think about. Natural disasters open the door to Human Trafficking. It makes me sick. It makes me so incredibly angry that when innocent people have already hit rock bottom, there are actually people out there who prey on upon the desperate. Children are bought and sold for cheap labour and sex. It is sick, it is monstrous, it is the world we live in. I could go on and on about this, but this is not what I came on to here to share with you so for more on that, here is a link : www.theatlantic.com/doc/201001u/haiti-trafficking News Article
The reason I am on here is this : This letter is from my friends dad. Pray… and if you can, give. They are not alone – they need to know that we will stand behind them and fight on their behalf.
Dear Family, Friends and Business Colleagues:
First, I have never been one to send out an email to such a large group of people. In fact I had to ask someone how to accomplish this.
The world changed last week for those in Haiti……I will come back to this later.
5 years ago I made my first trip to an orphanage (Haiti Children’s Home) in Haiti. What I saw during that trip was something I never could have imagined. After meeting the children and the caregivers, I wanted to find a small way to make a difference when I came back home. Shortly thereafter, a small group of us assembled at a Tim Horton’s in Ponoka, Alberta, Canada and one week later we became “Haitian Children’s Aid Society”. Our purpose was simple: find ways to get food, medical supplies and money to this orphanage so that children can stay alive in a home environment while adoptive families could be found for them.
Since that time, 80 adoptive families have received a happy child from Haiti Children’s Home. Currently, of the 45 children now at the orphanage, 6 are in the final stages of adoption and near ready to come to a home in Canada.
The quake on January 12th did not severely damage the orphanage building and all the children and staff were safe. The location of the orphanage is 50 KMS from Port-Au-Prince. However, the orphanage which also had an attached medical clinic quickly became a treatment center for local people and those coming from Port-Au-Prince seeking help and safety.
Today, January 20th, the orphanage building did not survive an aftershock. All staff and children are safe, but are now outdoors with nowhere to go. No power. We have located some partner friends in Dominican Republic who are scrambling to get food and milk to the children. I have included a recent communication below from our Director at the orphanage:
“The orphanage has been declared unfit to live in by the United Nations after today’s quake. We are trying to get ALL the kids out to the States on a Humanitarian visa for right now. They are sleeping in the yard again and cannot enter the house. I am going to the US Embassy tomorrow and likely will stand in line for hours but I need to find our options. The UN will bring us milk and water and hopefully tarps and tents for tonight. I am trying to get the Embassy pictures of the kids with Lori’s help so that I have ID photos to take tomorrow. There is no power in town …..”
Many of you have likely given already to Haiti relief — there are so many worthy causes. If you feel so inclined to help the 45 children at Haiti Children’s Home I can attest that 100% of the money will find its way to helping them directly. We have some trusted partners in Canada and the USA that will take donations, offer charitable receipts and dedicate all funds to helping the children in the orphanage.
In Canada:
Champion City Church
7531-152 C Ave.
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
T5C 3L2
Please make your cheque out to “Champion City Church”, write in the cheque memo “Haiti Relief” and include your full name and address.
In USA:
Interfellowship Christian Ministries
c/o Alana Butts
417 Webb Ct.
Minden, LA 71055
U.S.A
Please make your cheque out to “Interfellowship Christian Ministries”, write in the cheque memo “Haiti Relief” and include your full name and address.
If no charitable tax receipt is required please send your donation to:
Haitian Children’s Aid Society
C/O Duane Albers
RR # 2
Wetaskiwin, AB T9A 1W9
Thank you for your help and consideration. If you have any questions I would be pleased to take your call at 403.350.3420. A website is included below for further information, and to learn more about this important role that the orphanage plays in the lives of many children.
Best Regards,
Doug Decksheimer
http://www.haitichildrenshome.com/index.php
*smile*
This morning, I opened my email and had a nice surprise email from my DTS leader Susi – which is always a special treat to hear from her. And attached to it was this update from Pastor Wilbur, the Pastor from the church we lived for 3 months in Panama…
“….guess what? The church A/C just broke after 34 years…”
I just sat here and laughed because going into Panama, none of us thought we would have air conditioning – and none of us thought we would have internet. I didn’t even think we would have running water and toilets [ I was thinking 'worst case scenario'] But we had all of this and more. Our friends from the Smithsonian Institute let us use their laundry facilities. We had all these small blessings that got overlooked while we were there, but God was so good to us during our stay there. It may not have been the best time of our lives…. for some it may have been close to the worst…. but Panama now holds a special place in all our hearts – whether we like it or not. I can almost guarantee you that if you were to even mention Panama near any of us you would see a smile [ though it may be a sarcastic one...] and many of us would just say that familiar phrase “Oh Panama”. It was quite a gong show really, but at least we had air conditioning to protect us from the 97% humidity we encountered everyday. I hope they get it fixed soon though…..
Courtesy of Whitney Port/Kelly Cutrone/Random Forwarded Emails
ONE: Give people more than they expect and do it cheerfully.
TWO: Marry a man/woman you love to talk to. As you get older, their conversational skills will be as important as any other.
THREE: Don’t believe all you hear, spend all you have or sleep all you want.
FOUR: When you say, ‘I love you ,’ mean it.
FIVE: When you say, ‘I’m sorry,’ look the person in the eye.
SIX: Be engaged at least six months before you get married.
SEVEN: Believe in love at first sight.
EIGHT: Never laugh at anyone’s dream. People who don’t have dreams don’t have much.
NINE: Love deeply and passionately. You might get hurt but it’s the only way to live life completely.
TEN: In disagreements, fight fairly. No name calling.
ELEVEN: Don’t judge people by their relatives.
TWELVE: Talk slowly but think quickly.
THIRTEEN: When someone asks you a question you don’t want to answer, smile and ask, ‘Why do you want to know?’
FOURTEEN: Remember that great love and great achievements involve great risk.
FIFTEEN: Say ‘bless you’ when you hear someone sneeze.
SIXTEEN: When you lose, don’t lose the lesson !
SEVENTEEN: Remember the three R’s: Respect for self; Respect for others; and responsibility for all your actions.
EIGHTEEN: Don’t let a little dispute injure a great friendship..
NINETEEN When you realize you’ve made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.
TWENTY: Smile when picking up the phone.. The caller will hear it in your voice..
TWENTY-ONE: Spend some time alone.
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