lower case g

so much truth...

2008-10-04T12:25:00.003-04:00

courtesy of phdcomics.com

23... and teething

2008-05-14T08:09:00.003-04:00

i woke up this morning with a strange surprise... my wisdom teeth decided to continue their ascent into my mouth. not really what i expected on the day after my birthday. also, i understand why two year olds are cranky... this really hurts!!

the decision i never thought i'd make

2008-04-30T08:37:00.001-04:00

i will be at this place next year

sometimes you realize...

2008-04-23T08:21:00.005-04:00

... that your ability to communicate in another language has some serious limitations...

and i realized this about 2 weeks ago at my first (and perhaps only) attempt to get a 2 dollar hair-cut in a foreign country. the adventure of my honduran haircut started off very well. i went in and effectively communicated that i needed a haircut. the nice women in the store lead me to a chair and parted my hair squarely down the middle. then she asked me if i wanted layers or a strait cut... again, we effectively communicated that i would like layers. although she did insist on giving me three layers. now i am not a hair officianado so i really have absolutely no idea what this meant... so i just said "si" and we continued on with the cutting of the hair. next she asked how much i would like off... holding her fingers about a half an inch apart i showed her mine with about 2 inches apart... and the cutting began.

it started out ok, but slowly oh so slowly (as the entire town passed the window to stop and marvel at the white girl getting her hair cut... not a normal thing i'm assuming) i realized that my honduran haircut which had begun so well was starting to turn into gayle's honduran mullet. not wanting to offend, and also not knowing the honduran word for mullet... so as to use in a sentence like... "what are you doing!? you are giving me a mullet! stop!!!" i let the haircut proceed... with one interruption so that i could let my haircutter know that not being able to pull my hair back was NOT ok!

finally it finished... my two dollar honduran mullet was complete... and much of my hair was on the ground.

but two weeks out... my hair is slowly growing back, as i knew it would... i think i am less saddened by how it looks and more missing the functionability of having my hair so long i can pull it back in many different ways... but oh well.. it is just hair and it was kind of fun.

oh and much thanks must go out to amanda who saved my hair from remaining in a mullet like state. she did a very nice job of fixing some of the major problems (like a back layer of hair that went to my mid back while the front layer was about ear length.

the back of my newly short hair...

the place at which it the whole event took place

travel logs...

2008-04-14T11:29:00.006-04:00

coming soon will be many blogs about my wonderful trip to visit amanda (including the story of my rather unfortunate honduran mullet experience) but first... my adventure to get home...

tuesday:

last week tuesday my adventure began with a 2 hour bus ride + 15 min. taxi ride from siguatepeque, hn to san pedro sula, hn (these rides were filled with sadness as it meant leaving amanda and honduras behind :( but on a possitive note, the bus ride was filled with spectacular views of a beautiful countryside) (guessing... 90 miles 144 km of travel)

still on tuesday... i have the wonderful privilege of exploring the san pedro sula airport for 8 hours. wherein i meet a couple from southern ontario; a family from santa fe, new mexico; a singer song-writer from nashville, tennessee who gave me a free cd; a guy from new york, new york who used to date a dutch girl who looked just like me; and a guy from florida whose time in honduras was less than fantastic. i also found out that the san pedro airport has free wi-fi (something a few american and canadian airports could learn from!), rather confusing boarding procedures, and that needing to go to the bathroom allows you to cut in line when everyone else is waiting to get their bags checked for a second time (i discovered this accidentally... and felt bad about cutting... but i did really have to pee!)
wednesday:

leave san pedro at 2:00 am, fly to ft. lauderdale (895 miles 1440 km)

land in ft. lauderdale at 5:45 and go through customs after 30 mins of sleep (yikes!)

meet my parents who were in ft. lauderdale for the week (very strange! but also very wonderful!)

take a nap!

go out to lunch with my parents and grandparents (also in florida for the week)

go back to the airport at 6 pm, have coffee (which is much needed at this point)

leave ft. lauderdale at 8:10 pm, fly to chicago o'hare (1,374 mi, 2,211 km)

land in chicago at 10:30 and meet erin bridgewater! (smiles!!!)

go to erin's home (12 mi, 19 km)

SLEEP!!!!

thursday:
my time with erin was sadly short because she had to work at 8:30 in the morning (which also meant that my sleep was sadly short)

so... i took the metra (chicago's commuter trains) to downtown (13 mi, 23 km)

transfered trains and took another train out of the city to wheaton (26 mi, 42 km)

had lunch with derek and wondered around wheaton looking for dr. haas and dr. bowald who were there for a conference... but sadly our searching was in vain and we did not find them... although we did find some very discounted books which i had to resist buying!

derek dropped me off at wheaton's metra station where a garbled message told me that police activity on the tracks meant all the trains would be delayed... at this point i was a bit nervous that i would not get back into the city in time to catch my train home... thankfully a train that was running very behind schedule (it was supposed to be there at 12:57) showed up at 2:30 and so i took it back into the city (26 mi, 42 km)

took a taxi because it was raining so hard (3 blocks) from the ogilvie transportation center to union station

5:20 pm boarded an amtrak train to holland, mi (150 mi, 242 km)

10:30 pm arrive at HOME!!! and SLEEP!!!

friday:
wake up at 9 am and get ready to leave home again.

drive to hamilton, on... completing my three days, three countries tour (338 mi, 544 km)

go to the redeemer concert choir's 25 years 25 anthems concert (:D:D)

saturday:
go to aylmer, on for melissa kuiper's birthday party! (77 mi, 124 km)

go 5-pin bowling! *which has nothing to do with traveling but it was my first time 5 pin bowling... it is definitely not my calling

drive back to hamilton (77 mi, 124 km)

sunday:
drive from hamilton, on back to zeeland, mi (338 mi, 544 km)

arrive home at 8:30

go to bed at 9:30.... sleep for 13 hours

thus ends my week of travel and adventures, i have traveled by bus, plane, train, and car as well as using my feet for a large portion of the week...

i have traveled 3,416 miles, 5,499 km and enjoyed every minute of it... particularly the parts where i got to see old friends :) now i am happily in my home in zeeland, where i plane to stay all day long!

happy birthday

2008-02-11T12:13:00.000-05:00

to my dad...

BOOKS!

2008-02-01T15:22:00.000-05:00

i've been tagged by dave beldman with the following rules to follow:

Pick up the nearest book of 123 pages or more. (No cheating!)
Find Page 123.
Find the first 5 sentences.
Post the next 3 sentences.
Tag 5 people.

i had a really hard time figuring out the nearest book to me. right now i count at least 17 books within a foot of me (i think i need to start usuing my bookshelves... or making sure that on the days i write studies for church that i put the books away as a i work :S) but i decided to pick up
The Jewish Reclamation of Jesus: An Analysis and Critique of the Modern Jewish Study of Jesus by Donald A. Hagner (a book that has been very helpful for me in my present work!)

pg. 123, 5 sentences in " No other passage in the New Testament is cited by Jewish writers more frequently and with more satisfaction in the Jewish reclamation of Jesus than Matthew 5:17-20. The argument is that if Jesus spoke the words recorded in these verses, he cannot be regarded as breaking with the Law in the way that has been described above. Jesus speaks in no uncertain terms of the permanency of the Law: he has not come to abolish the Law; neither an iota nor a dot will pass from it; the one who relaxes even the least of these commandments, teaching this to others, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, whereas the one who keeps and teaches them will be called great."

proof that no matter where i go...

2008-01-28T08:40:00.000-05:00

i will never escape the tendency to burn myself

michigan burn count: 2 (run in with the toaster oven and a cup of boiling water for tea which i spilled on myself at work)

this zeeland life: part 4...the expedition through zeeland

2008-01-24T09:32:00.001-05:00

step 1 of expedition: getting ready to brave the snow....

my time in seattle gave me a new appreciation for snow. even though i still want spring to come tomorrow, i missed seeing the world made white... my time in seattle also taught me the valuable lesson of layering...

my brother helped me record the first layer that would protect me from frostbite

fleece and finally ready to go!

step 2 of expedition: go outside into the snow storm

chris came too!!!

step 3 of expedition: take in the immediate surroundings

our mailbox from whence fun things sometimes come (insert shameless plug for sending me mail here) and our house... looking very wintery!

step 4 of expedition: go somewhere... in this case... 1 kilometer to downtown zeeland

entering downtown...

the zeeland clocks

and sadly...

the new zeeland branding campain
(zeeland has started a new campain to get people to come visit... "feel the zeel" ?! what!? i am so embarrassed by the choice and the amount of these banners hanging around town)

more of downtown, including a stop at one of zeeland's million or so churches

step 5 of expedition: make your way back home and enjoy something warm!

this zeeland life: part 3... civic duty

2008-01-17T12:15:00.000-05:00

this week i exercised my civic duty... for the first time without an absentee ballot. it was fun!!! even though my candidate did not win the michigan primary.

this zeeland life: part 2... habitat(a)

2008-01-12T23:00:00.000-05:00

at 10'clock... my room looked like this. now i know that for those of you who have seen my room before... this is not a huge shock, i have been known to be a bit of a messy person at times... for those of you who didnt know--suprise!-- it was only a matter of time before you found out. however, this mess was a bit worse then my other ones because all of my belongings in the world were contained in this 10x10 room... all my books, cloths, and other random items were strewn across the floor or in bins and boxes that had to be unpacked and reorganized... so my day begun

step 1: find a way into the room and make a small patch of floor for myself

around dinner time (which was 4:30 because i desperately needed an excuse to get out of my room)... my room looked like this... note that the floor is showing!!!! however, the depressing part of the day was realizing that after that much work i did take a break to go out for lunch with my brother... so at least it wasn't a full 6 1/2 hours of work to get the place to this state) ... my room still looked like a horrid mess

step 2: find a place for all the things that have no place and throw away about 7 cardboard boxes which used to store all those things with no place

because of my extreme dislike of cleaning i had to make the day a little bit fun... mostly i tried to get excited when i found things that i have not seen in a long time...

amanda! i found your mit--- however, i still think that the other one is lost (not by me) to ontario forever... but if you have found the other mit in your moves... it is waiting for you in zeeland

this zeeland life: part 2... habitat (b)

2008-01-12T22:00:00.000-05:00

after dinner i kept persevering... the result was that around 7 o'clock my room looked like this!

i even organized my closet! sorry there is no "before picture" as my closet had become a storing location for my family and was filled with too many things to get a "before shot"

i was extremely elated at my accomplishment. i found the floor! and i organized!!!

yet altogether, the day left me feeling like this:

and it left me with projects for another day. for there are still a few problems in my habitat

problem 1: i own more books now then i did when i was 16 (the last time i lived in my room)... these are my bookselves... and those 3 blue bins in the picture at the beginning of this post are filled with books as well... oh and i have already brought three boxes and a backpack full to work to store there :S

problem 2: my room has become a storage space for all of the old startrek shows my family owns as well as my brother's ever growing dvd collection... my goal is to regain this wall in the next few weeks... but we'll see :)

this zeeland life: part 1. people

2008-01-10T20:24:00.000-05:00

welcome to "this zeeland life part one: people"

now that i have made the move across the country (for the 2nd time in 4 months), survived 7 parties in 7 days (christmases, new years, and birthdays), and spent over 20 hours in a car over that same 7 day/7 party period... i am back in the land of zeeland and hoping to be blogging more regularly (how many times have i said that!?) anyway... i thought i should introduce you to my new life

SO.. first and formost... introducing those with whom i spend a lot of time with these days

first... my mom (linda) ... who is addicted to tostidos (which is nice... because that means we are always stocked with salsa and chips!!!

my dad (larry)... i guess this could prove that the apple does not fall far from the tree

my brother (chris) who also likes taking self portraits with the camera... in this one i think he is trying to be serious...

the little dog... with the very little brain whose name is nemi

star--the one we call "the real dog"

maybe i should check my junk e-mail more often

2007-11-13T20:32:00.000-05:00

about 4 years ago i stopped using hotmail as my primary e-mail account (yes i jumped on the gmail bandwagen and i have been happily riding it ever since!). anyway, i randomly check my hotmail inbox to see if i have any fun e-mails from people still using my hotmail address... today i decided to check my junk-mail...

to my suprise, i am still the recipient of holland christian high school's weekly announcements... something i signed up to get as a freshman... and have been getting every monday-friday for the past 9 years. oh my goodness... its been 9 years since i was a freshman in high school. AAHHH... anyway, i finally unsubscribed to announcement... i have lost the ability (not that i ever knew i had it) to find out what the cafeteria will be serving at good old hc.

a prayer of kierkegaard for the day

2007-11-06T03:14:00.000-05:00

Father in Heaven! You have loved us first, help us never to forget that You are love so that this sure conviction might triumph in our hearts over the seduction of the world, over the inquietude of the soul, over the anxiety for the future, over the fright of the past, over the distress of the moment. But grant also that this conviction might discipline our soul so that our heart might remain faithful and sincere in the love which we bear to all those whom You have commanded us to love as we love ourselves.

You have loved us first, O God, alas! We speak of it in terms of history as if You have only loved us first but a single time, rather than that without ceasing You have loved us first many things and every day and our whole life through. When we wake up in the morning and turn our soul toward You - You are the first - You have loved us first; if I rise at dawn and at the same second turn my soul toward You in prayer, You are there ahead of me, You have loved me first. When I withdraw from the distractions of the day and turn my soul toward You, You are the first and thus forever. And yet we always speak ungratefully as if You have loved us first only once.

why...

2007-10-30T22:33:00.000-04:00

... do i have a strange urge to request a stop before my actual bus stop...

does anyone else have this urge... or is this just profoundly strange

also, i added another burn story to the litany today. this time while making someone an americano... the americano turned out well... my hand did not

this week in seattle: my weekly reflections turn more tri-weekly and i find myself back in lecture-land

2007-10-24T20:47:00.000-04:00

well, it has been a long time since my supposed weekly reflections on life in seattle have been posted about. i guess even without the excuses of papers to write i am hopelessly unorganized and unscheduled. which actually presents itself as a strange irony because i crave structure in my current place of employment (there is a hopeless lack of it). anyway, there isn't too much new to report besides that my deep desire to be warm here has lead to even greater amounts of coffee and tea consumed. i guess the name of this blog is really starting to make a lot of sense. every day is indeed coffee time! oh and i must report that i have learned how to make a leaf shape on the top of a latte with steamed milk. my first leaf was a big moment! although it made me not want to give up the latte to the costumer.

this week has actually been quite busy... woot... planning for the church's annual harvest fest on saturday and for my first OT class on sunday. i've already decided to take monday off!

i also have recently received an influx of new books. thanks in part to one rather generous individual and the help of amazon.com. i have already made my way through holiness by john webster (after having wanted to get it for a long time, i regretted not picking it up sooner... it was an altogether enjoyable read!) and i have started: the culture savvy christian, american Jesus, the new faces of christianity: believing the bible in the global south, the power of one, and shake hands with the devil. wahoo for reading!

and in conclusion, the staff went to hear jurgen moltmann speak at seattle pacific today. it was fun to hear a lecture again!

one of life's joys

2007-10-16T17:01:00.000-04:00

finding a book delivered to you on your front porch.

a very happy birthday

2007-10-14T18:07:00.001-04:00

to my dear friend and adopted older brother!!!

is it procrastinating when there isnt a deadline tomorrow?

2007-10-10T18:57:00.000-04:00

i'm not sure... but i do know that today i was hit by the sudden urge to sing. i am blaming/attributing this urge to dan and mira graciously inviting me to sing in a choir during the signing of their registry. anyway, due to the lack of choral music in my life and a lack of sopranos, tenors, and basses to sing with... i adventured into the world of mac's garage band and tried to sing some of the parts myself and record them together. this resulted in three things:

1. fun
2. further confirmation that i should never be a soprano
3. you know when you listen to your spoken voice on a recording and think "eww is that what i really sound like? those poor people that have to listen to me talk"... i think its worse for singing.

anyway, that is about all from seattle today. i should get back to thinking about the old testament and harvest fest.

2007-10-09T20:15:00.001-04:00

this week in seattle: i learn what layers are, and my errors continue

2007-09-30T20:36:00.000-04:00

this week i had to convince people that i'm not always as scatter brained as i have appeared in the last few weeks (although there is always a little bit of it going on in my life)

it did not help when i had to play the "where are you game"

with my keys

thankfully i did find them... but not after a full day of searching and having to make sure i could get back into my house and office

also late fall/winter is starting to set in here in the northwest and that means bad things for my coffee/tea drinking habits- this mug is now permanently attached to my cold hands
along with the changing weather, i have learned that the way to survive seattle winters is to layer your clothing and wear fleece... wahoo! now if i could only make my layers match with each other :S oh well who ever said matching was important anyway

besides constantly loosing things and being generally confused as to the line between working and not working (when you are supposed to hang out with people as work it is a bit difficult to discern the difference) i have been slowly but surely finding my place here. i am getting to know more people (which is wonderful!) and i've started work on a 4 week old testament survey class for church (SO fun). i'm also working with the church's outreach area. this weeks goal: get to know the service providers that already exist in the neighbourhood.

this week in seattle (2 days late): a comedy of erro-rs

2007-09-24T11:36:00.000-04:00

these are some of the things i have managed to do in the last week:

-left my wallet at a cafe- this story has a happy ending though. someone at the zeitgeist coffee shop (what a name eh?) was feeling particularly kind and returned my wallet to the counter. also, on my way back to retrieve it (and while i was feeling particularly panicked) i ran into ben katt who works at sanctuary and we had lunch together. so in the end... my absent mindedness ended in a pleasant lunch. moral of the story is seattle is smaller then you think... but it is still not a good feeling to think you have lost your wallet thousands of miles from the michigan offices you would need to replace things that are inside it.

-left my keys in the door to the house i'm staying. we found them in the morning when we left the house. oops!

-left the coffee pot on and boiled the coffee dry (if you have done this before you know that the smell is not pretty)

-burned spagetti to the point that cleaning the pan was a little bit difficult

-spilled indian food all over myself

-right now i am learning how to steam milk for coffee... and in the process of learning i keep forgetting which way to turn the knob so that the steamer turns off. one time i had a particularly hard time remembering... so much so that milk exploded all over me and the coffee station i was working... hehe... sorry to whoever has to get coffee that i have made. i apologize in advance

-spilled coffee all over the fabric of faithfulness which i suppose fits because it focuses on learning how to connect belief and behaviour while in university... i drank a lot of coffee during that period of my life (although it has not really lessened in the past month... hint to coffee addicts: do not move to seattle if you want to stop drinking coffee! not only is it more available here it is better!!!)

-after spilling coffee on my book (sad) i lost it (sadder) which means that my attempts to find faithfulness were thwarted for at least 3 days while i searched for my beloved coffee stained book. i did find it (which made me very happy!!!)

to all who still read this: HAPPY MONDAY

this week in seattle: first-year memories rise again

2007-09-16T00:33:00.000-04:00

activity number 1: meeting new people and connecting names with faces has become a renewed past-time this week. i have learned the excitement (once again) of remembering someone's name...

activity number 2: burning spaghetti. yes, that is right... for those of you who know the disaster that was my spaghetti experience in dorm 15, tonight i repeated the feat (which i am embarrassed to admit... maybe italian is not a cuisine i should pursue) although this time there was less damage to myself and the walls.

activity number 3: cultural acclimation. although this is opposite, it was from american to canadian culture and now i am adjusting the other way around. the nice thing is that i already know amercianize... although i miss saying first year, second year, grade 10, etc... i also miss hearing about the temperature in celcius.

activity number 4: getting lost (sort-of). i tried to get to a bike shop without looking up the directions... apparently there was an important turn that i missed; however, i did turn down another street randomly and ended up right where i was supposed to be... a surprising yet good way to learn 2 different ways to get to the bike shop.

it has been a good week. my work at the green bean (a coffee shop has started) which has quickly become some of my favourite times of the week. the bean, which is about three years old used to be a bar where drug deals took place, now it is a place of community and coffee (yum). kind of reminds me of the the following quote:

In creating or changing a public space, small improvements help to garner support along the way to the end result. They indicate visible change and show that someone is in charge. Petunias, which are low cost and easy to plant, have an immediate visible impact. On the other hand, once planted, they must be watered and cared for. Therefore, these flowers give a clear message that someone must be looking after the space (Kathleen Madden, How to Turn a Place Around,).

the only difference is there are no patunias... mostly because the people that work there, like myself, have a hard time keeping things alive... but in place of patunias there is coffee and some wonderful people...

happy and sad

2007-09-13T01:06:00.000-04:00

today i am happy because i am a proud owner of this:

but i am sad because all the books i want to read are apparently very popular and i have been put onto massively long waiting lists (although this may just be the result of trying to reinvigorate my love for novels. i did check the theology section... all intact and ready to be taken out:)

also... i am quite excited that the library is a 3 min. walk from work!!!!

this week in seattle: dutch neocalvinist meets a lack of scheduale

2007-09-08T20:00:00.000-04:00

my arrival on tuesday was met with some fantastic pacific northwest rainfall which was actually a bit colder then i expected. oh well it's been sunny every other day so far. shortly after my arrival randy (the lead pastor of sanctuary crc) picked me up and gave me a fast and furious orientation to seattle as well as a tasty soup lunch (no matter how much soup i have i still love it... the world needs more soup i say!)

my first week has been filled with getting to know the bus system, finding the best and prettiest way to walk to work, meeting many new people, having a good time touring around the city with someone from the church (torrey), and figuring out how i will fit in here. it has been both busy and not so busy at the same time i.e. a lot of free time... hence the dutch work ethic in me going crazy over not having a list the size of my arm to do... but people keep encouraging me to take time and enjoy the rest (ha, easier said then done ;) i am hopeful though, maybe this year i will take the time to learn how to read slowly and not in a rushed manor.

and that is the end of this edition (with hopefully more in store) of "this week in seattle" where there are actually cafes everywhere! yum... coffee!!!

resting...

2007-09-06T12:46:00.000-04:00

...is not one of my talents

the journey continues...west...

2007-09-05T00:18:00.000-04:00

and finally an update... this time from the west and rainy coast of the u.s./land of the green money that i'm having a hard time getting used to again

hello to anyone who still checks this blog. you are more faithful then i have been in the past few months. anyway, i had a wonderful trip across the country by train... which i highly recommend to anyone who enjoys scenery and can stand a few strange meetings with random people.

here are a few photo highlights (i did not take many on the account of i thought it might look strange to take lots of pictures of myself with the camera on my comp.)

this is how i spent most of my waking hours... creation is beautiful... particularly mountains!!

this represents the morning/afternoon of the second day of my journey. note how red hot the side of my face is... yes that is right... i spent a long while in the sun being very warm... but on the plus side i had a whole seat to myself on the second day and i was able to access one of the train car's two outlets.

this is mid-afternoon on the second day when i became a bit blitzed and tired... i decided to listen to the magician's nephew on "tape" which i had made sure to bring along. it was a good decision.

this is how i felt when i finally arrived in seattle. (it is also how i felt when we went through glacier national park and the cascades) where i was greeted by the head pastor, and showed around town. i also arrived in my new home for the year and got (sort of) settled in.

this is my most recent felling... perhaps the time change is catching up with me after all!

until next time, this is gayle... in the middle of an adventure filled with fun, drizzle, and strange reminders that she is not in canada any more.

SO PROUD!

2007-05-31T22:46:00.000-04:00

an event well worth coming home for:

welcoming...

2007-05-24T15:25:00.000-04:00

my dad to the blogging world:

http://gettingdusty.blogspot.com

john updike, "the super-rich make lousy neighbours"

2007-05-16T11:06:00.000-04:00

The superrich make lousy neighbors

they buy a house and tear it down

and build another, twice as big, and leave.

They're never there; they own so many

other houses, each demands a visit.

Entire neighborhoods called fashionable,

bustling with servants and masters, such as

Louisburg Square in Boston or Bel Air in L.A.,

are districts now like Wall Street after dark

or Tombstone once the silver boom went bust.

The essence of the superrich is absence.

They're always demonstrating they can afford

to be somewhere else. Don't let them in.

Their money is a kind of poverty.

from american scholar 67, 4 (fall 1998), 52.

made me laugh...

2007-05-07T16:53:00.000-04:00

i received this message today when a website would not load

This page cannot be displayed because you need some fresh air. The page you are looking for is currently unavailable. Your ISP has told us that you're on-line several hours everyday, and that just ain't right.

Please, for the love of God, try the following:

Don't click the Refresh button. Go outside now.
If you are about to spend another $100 at Amazon, then please contact Amazon Anonymous.
To go outside, first click the Cyber Hypnosis menu, and then click Cold Water in the Face. On the Numb Butt tab, click Sedentary Back Pain. The Get Out of Your Chair settings should match those provided by your local area network (LAN) administrator.
If your Evil Computer Addict persona has enabled it, we can examine your network and quickly discover a way to wake you up from your computer-induced stupor.
If you would like Windows to try and discover them,
click Detect Computer-Induced Stupor
There are a host of things awaiting you in the outside world: fishing, skiing, skeet shooting, triathlons, PTA meetings, and dentist appointments, for example.
If you are unable to get up, click here and your power strip will emit a large enough shock to scare you back to your senses. If that doesn't work, then we give up. You are officially in need of some serious help. Dial 1-800-GET-HELP on your computer's keypad to reach a mental hospital near you.
Click the Back button to melt your computer.

Cannot find reality files
Internet Exploder

it's a small world...

2007-05-03T19:33:00.002-04:00

when your custom's agent is a redeemer grad...

happy 200

2007-05-03T19:33:00.001-04:00

200 posts...and it only took me 4 years :S

6 notes from the life of gayle

2007-05-01T16:02:00.000-04:00

despite trying to keep my blog from merely being updates on my current situation in life... i have failed on the last few posts... and now i continue on that trend.

1. i have moved once again (making it the 18th move since the age of 16) and now i reside at 190 locke st in downtown hamilton
i do not have a phone number yet... i'm working on it (so for now e-mail me to get ahold of me)

2. i will be working at the wrf for the summer as a research intern (wahoo :)

3. evergreen ministries finally has their new website up and running ... complete with a video of my dad... it is worthy of checking out... :)

4. sanctuary crc has offered me an intership for the fall (again wahoo :)

5. i am home in michigan for the next couple of days spending some much needed time sleeping and resting with my family.

6. my brother's senior banquet was this week... the pictures (i think) are blog worthy

why i have disappeared for the last four months...

2007-04-26T18:40:00.000-04:00

total word count (exclusive of footnotes) = 75407
total word count (including footnotes)= 78726
total pages written (double space, times new roman font)= 271

and i'm done!!!! :D:D:D:D

dear april 26th.

2007-04-23T15:40:00.001-04:00

please come soon.

i am slowly going crazy....

2007-04-14T17:04:00.000-04:00

MEMO

This:

belongs in one of these: (after opening)

however last night i put it away in one of these:

and i was

today when i could not find it in:

until later when i found it in the midst of making dinner and realized i was....

(going crazy)

tonight...

2007-04-13T07:32:00.000-04:00

we sing songs written by this man.

at 8:00 p.m. at macnab presbyterian church

i have decided that if the last thing i sing with the redeemer choir is "herzlich lieb hab ich dich o herr" (from my heart i hold you dear oh Lord) it's not such a bad way to go

in completely other news: classes are now done... and the "bio death count" (the tally of the number of times our professor mentioned death/dying) came in at a staggering 77... which means i now know 77 more ways death might come upon me in various aspects of life... oh bio :)

expletives.

2007-04-11T13:58:00.000-04:00

1. as my final concert with the redeemer concert choir draws nearer, i reflect on that which has made me laugh and cringe at over the last 3 months... german. we are singing in german for our final concert... all in german, and as with many languages certain words sound like/ are pronounced like swear words in english with a slight twist. as someone who does not swear, hearing these words come out of one's mouth is sometimes disconcerting. but even more disconcerting is the fact that as a struggling perfectionist, the words are not actually swear words... they just sound like someone trying to imitate/get away with swearing. thus, i feel as though an apology is in order. (a) for feeling like swearing and (b) for doing a bad job of it...

2. if you happen to wonder the halls and hear a random person in a brown shirt with blue lettering (aka the choir tour shirts for 2007) yelling "schlagt" and looking panicked and or hurt and or frustrated do not be alarmed... they are ok... merely using a good and wholesome german work to get out their frustration. if i may use my good friend smoerman to demonstrate...

easter

2007-04-08T19:55:00.000-04:00

good friday

2007-04-06T07:30:00.000-04:00

3 He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.
Like one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

4 Surely he took up our infirmities
and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God,
smitten by him, and afflicted.

5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.

6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.

7 He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before her shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.

beautiful moment of the day:

2007-04-04T14:45:00.000-04:00

me: can i pay off my library fines (opening my wallet to empty the contents)
librarian: sure

(silence... building... how much will i owe yet again?)

...that will be eight dollars

me (in my head): WAHOO!!!! still money in my wallet afterwards.

on the road again :)

2007-03-28T13:27:00.000-04:00

tomorrow i embark on yet another trip to the east coast... i thought it would be fun to make links for the activities i will be partaking in... (woot for interactive posts)

i will be going here

to listen to this

which will be SO FUN! and interesting.

...three cheers for...

thanks to:
-wikipedia for most of the links

side note: this post may or may not outdo my last one in terms of nerdiness... i'm beginning to realize how good a year off will be for me :P

nerdy moments of the day

2007-03-24T21:15:00.001-04:00

today i came to the realization that i have reached another stage of nerdyness... kind of like when you reach the next level of karate, except in nerd levels parsing verbs and reading books does not impress people like being able to to declare yourself a lethal weapon (which i have heard is something you must do if you get good enough at the martial arts)

-anyway, i spent most of the day in the library and enjoyed it (particularly when i got to cite a book from 1888... the custance collection room can be a very fun place to find old books).

-stormed mill (mac's library) with the rest of the library nerds who needed to get those last books out before it closed at 6:00pm on a saturday night.

-i am drooling over this: new software from logos

i suppose the fantastic news in all of this is (a) i can keep my name "wandering nerd" and feel alright about it and (b) the thousands of hours i will spend in the library between now and april 26th will not be entirely unbearable. woot :)

smoerman decides to goes out

2007-03-19T07:35:00.000-04:00

one fateful day... smoerman, a small town girl from southwestern ontario, decided that she should end the boycott of restaurants she had held to since child birth. her friends had been encouraging her to take such a step as her only reason for not going to a restaurant was that they seemed to be somewhat scary because you did not get to make your own food. her friends kept telling her that was the whole point! you get to have food made for you and cleaned up after you. smoerman had been contemplating these words one day after choir rehersal and felt to tired from singing in german to cook for herself. she heard the words of her trusted friends in her head, and she decided tonight would be the night to try and god out. while she was not entirely certain of the procedure for such a venture... she figured it was important to be clean so...
she took a shower

after her shower, smoerman was having sever anxiety about her decision. should she really go to the scary restaurant? should she leave the comforts of home? in an effort to calm herself down, she went into her big girl kitchen to find solace in her favourite places there.
she climbed into the cupboard and contemplated life for a while and then into the oven (her favorite thinking spot) to agonizingly make a final decision. sarah thought and thought, should she leave the comfort of her home and bravely go to the place she had never gone before. finally she made her decision. SHE WOULD GO EAT FOOD IN A DIFFERENT PLACE!

sarah put on her traveling hat (for while she had never gone to a restaurant, she had traveled before... and whenever she traveled she had to wear her traveling hat)

she also grabbed her seat cushion... you never know what could be on the seats at restuarants! smoerman wanted protection.

finally, smoeman put on her favourite shirt. she knew that she wanted to look nice for this monumental occasion.

smoerman goes to jacks

2007-03-19T07:32:00.000-04:00

she decided to go to jack asters. she got in her car and traveled there.

when she arrived she was in awe... and not only that... she saw that her trusted and wonderful friend lstew was also going out for dinner! they celebrated seeing each other.

'
it was a good thing that lstew was there because smoeman thought the thing the hostess gives you to inform you when your table is ready was food. and lstew found her just as she was going to take her first bite.

because she almost accidentally ate the plastic round thing... smoerman became a bit anxouis....maybe this was not for her... she went outside to relieve some stress... who knew!?

auntie schnapps (lstew) joined her

finally they sat down and smoerman was overwheled by the amount of food choices.

when the waitress came, smoerman realized that it was her long lost cousin! they were both shocked to see each other! much catching up ensued... wow... restraints were starting to become a little better!

smoerman ordered and soon the drink orders came. she got her drink and was so excited about the straw that she decided it would be fun to drink it through her nose

lstew quickly corrected her about edicate in public

while they were waiting for their food, smoerman began to get impatient... what was this waiting business. she was frustrated becuase they were stuck in the booth with nothing to do but wait longingly for the food they had just ordered. she was again a bit skeptical about the whole restaurant thing. suddenly she remembered that in her purse were lots of fun things to pull out and use to entertain themselves while they were waiting:
handle-bar mustache time!

sporting wear :)

she also demonstrated her black-eye making kit

opps... this one was not planned, smoeman quickly grabbed a near by napkin and fixed the problem

lstew also shared in smoerman's joy and awe when the food came

smoerman order delicious chicken strips! they were SOO GOOD!

she also decided that she would order dessert. oh my goodness it was tasty

the bill however, was not as tasty or good... smoerman felt as many do when they recieve a restaurant bill:

we love you smoerman!

2007-03-19T07:25:00.000-04:00

the day was done, the boycott ended, smoerman wasnt sure that she would go again... the food was good but the bill was a bit much... however, she did in the end, know she was loved.

what... an update?

2007-03-15T07:10:00.000-04:00

in an ill-fated post a proclaimed a blogging break while in connecticut for a missions conference. however, that blogging break (barring one entry concerning a taize event) has lasted a great deal longer then expected. apologies all around to anyone who still checks this blog... here are many of the things i thought about posting about during my undeniably negligent blogging over the last 2 months:

1. scatterbrained errors on regular days
2. why winter in ontario lasts too long... but how snowstorms are extremely fun (except for when friends go sledding on the snow fun storms produce and break things.)
3. how my location of face in book has increased greatly over the past semester... and how i cant wait to do a pages read and written count at the end of the semester
4. why i like the book of genesis
5. why i like the pentatuech
6. how my spelling has continued to not improve...
7. my trip to connecticut
8. choir tour.
9. how technology is not my friend and the ill-fated two week killing spree of computers i had
10. how facebook has taken over the world...

...hoping really hard to blog again before 2 months is over...

learn about taize!

2007-01-25T18:50:00.000-05:00

on monday jan. 29 two representatives will be at redeemer giving a presentation about the taize community in france. come!!!!!!!!

where: room 212 A (redeemer)
when:7 pm

off to connecticut

2007-01-01T12:22:00.000-05:00

...not like my blogging has been incredibly regular (ever) but the next two weeks will be a blogging break as i am headed to connecticut for a missions conference.

a blessed 2007 to everyone!

christmas letter 2006

2006-12-27T10:52:00.000-05:00

macs have this extremely fun feature called comic life which my mom and i used to create our 'christmas letter' for 2006...

disclaimer: we really all did have an excellent 2006 :)

christmas 2006...

2006-12-25T21:06:00.000-05:00

first christmas on record that i wore sandels and did not freeze!

Look Around You

2006-12-22T15:45:00.001-05:00

documentary idea (inspired by events of the day)

2006-11-24T18:53:00.001-05:00

"when squirls shut down schools"

disclaimer: i know that it was only one squirl... but come on this has to be an event that happens regularly other places...right?

2006-11-18T16:55:00.000-05:00

God be merciful to me on Thy grace, I rest my plea
Plenteous in compassion Thou
Blot out my transgressions now

Wash me, make me pure within
Cleanse, oh, cleanse me from my sin

My transgressions I confess
Grief and guilt my soul oppress
I have sinned against Thy grace
And provoked Thee to Thy face

I confess Thy judgment just
Speechless, I, Thy mercy trust

I am evil born in sin
Thou desirest truth within
Thou alone my Savior art
Teach Thy wisdom to my heart

Make me pure, Thy grace bestow
Wash me whiter than the snow

Gracious God, my heart renew
Make my spirit right and true
Thy salvation's joy impart
Steadfast make my willing heart
Steadfast make my willing heart

Broken, humbled to the dust
By Thy wrath and judgment just
Let my contrite heart rejoice
And in gladness hear Thy voice

From my sins, oh, hide Thy face
Blot them out in boundless grace

oh life...

2006-11-17T01:01:00.000-05:00

...you're funny...

...you're busy...

...you're full of laughter...

all demonstrated by the fact that i came back to my bed to lay down to sleep... and found that i had been sitting on a book for the majority of the evening while writing my ethics paper. i guess that proper names wont be quoted a lot in my paper... sorry dr. haas

and time always flies by...

2006-10-30T18:53:00.001-05:00

and now november looms overhead. the days of papers and readings are upon us. mountians of work that always strike you as impossible to finish... and yet i have time to waste watching the colbert report on youtube... oh well... such is the life of a student. that and late night snacking when writting that paper which is due the next day...

falling into the web of needs...

2006-10-18T23:37:00.000-04:00

following a trend in blogging... the google search of what i need...

-Gayle needs your full attention and doesn't want you to be distracted. Make sure you will be uninterrupted by the doorbell, other people or pets.

-Gayle needs 3/4 yard of green felt and 5/8 yard of blue felt

-Gayle needs a copy of the bank statement from December 31st

-Gayle needs to be dropped

-Gayle needs to grow up

-Gayle needs you

-Gayle needs YOU... To VOTE for her!

i want to cry

2006-10-12T15:20:00.000-04:00

it's snowing and it's october 12...

NNNNOOOOOOO!!!!!

summer where have you gone... why fall have you not existed?

never again...

2006-10-10T00:00:00.001-04:00

will i try to cross the border at 5:30 p.m. on canadian thanksgiving. one would think that there wouldnt be anyone there, that all the people would be at home eating turkey and stuffing with loved ones. but no! that is not the case. instead of filling their stomachs with tasty pie, they are crossing the border... and creating 2 hour long lines for kimber and i to wait in. oh well though... we did finally make it back to redeemer :) here are some pictures of us in our bordom waiting to get back into the country.
look! i'm in two contries at once! how cool is that! if we hadnt been going so slowly i might have missed that... and that would have been sad.

and here we are waiting... and waiting some more... and going a little crazy.

so if one runs out of ideas to blog...

2006-10-07T23:58:00.000-04:00

create a new template. and hope that the life of your blog will revive itself

still alive

2006-09-14T00:13:00.000-04:00

...but not doing so well on keeping up my blog :S

memories of one of the strangest things i encountered in israel

2006-08-26T22:41:00.000-04:00

...the elvis gas station, complete with an american style dinner, and an elvis express snack shop (with very good ice cream! :)...

one of my (new) favourite things ever!

2006-08-08T22:33:00.000-04:00

i've successfully cut back on my coffee intake this summer... wahoo! :) here's to hoping that once school starts i can stick to my daily alotment of 1 cup... but in the absense of coffee i have developed a new "addiction" to these wonderful things called coffee nips... i am convinced that they are better for me then drinking cups of coffee and they are just so incredibly delicious!!!!!!

finally good news from...

2006-08-04T18:35:00.001-04:00

the dentist... i dont have any cavities to fill or root canals to have in the near future... my gums only need to recover from being killed by the flossing... :D

and there was much free time in the land

2006-07-30T06:59:00.000-04:00

imac's photobooth is fun! (as is suprise visits from wonderful friends!)

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only in israel... and a few thoughts on returns

2006-07-29T10:22:00.000-04:00

the grassy knoll... great place to study although shade was a bit scarce... the day this was taken we were having a bit of a frustrating time trying to figure out what in the world the book was asking us to do

relaxing... gotta love class field trips

so, on my last full day in israel, israel decided to treat me to a day that could really only israel could treat a person to... here in detail is the events of the spectacularly israeli day...

the day began as normal, i woke up at 7 and climbed the three flights of stairs to the dinning hall where i drank instant coffee and had my usual breakfast of yogurt, fruit and granola after which i went to the front office to order a sherut to the airport for the next morning (at 4:30 am... gross)... they were a little bit unsure about the whole thing... which is intirely normal. after breakfast and a few last moments of cramming for my exam, i went up to the area where our class mets and 25 students + 4 teachers went down to the big classroom on the moshav to take our test, however the door was locked and the key didnt open it. ephriam (one of the teachers) went and argued with the moshav staff for 20 min while we all waited outside. his efferts where in vain and we were sent to our other two classrooms (our normal places for class). the other class went to one of the classrooms/bombshelters where half of the class took their test on bunk beds and our class took our tests so close together that my test was almost touching the others on the small small table that we were using. hmm... this might get long if it is in all narrative... better switch to point form...

-gathered together as a class and listened a song in hebrew about goliath written by a hebrew group that's equivilant to the beattles of israel
-had a birthday party at lunch
-we were supposed to practice for our play at 2, which moved to 2:30, which was moved to 3:30 because they needed to clean the stage and setting area (it's outside... they were sweeping rocks)
-picked grapes in the biblical gardens
-took a hike down the mountain and found a well (how cool is that!)
-went to dinner to find that it had been pushed back 45 min... which ended up being an hour... problem becuase our play was supposed to be at 7 and dinner was at 7
-while we were waiting outside for dinner a wedding party came through, in the middle of the wedding party was a family wearing bathing suits
-near reception they had placed a replica of a canon and a dentist chair outside... and people were sitting in the dentist chair and getting their picture taken
-after a long delay (dinner) we went to go do our jonah play... but the person that was supposed to video tape the performance forgot his camara so he had to go home to get it... delaying the play another 1 and a half
-all and all it was a very funny day...

and now i am home, back a land of green and filled with tons of space (it's kind of overwhelming actaully... i can lie on the floor of my room with my legs and arms spread out... that's a lot of space), tons of signs, and tons of big things.

ha kets ba (the end is coming)

2006-07-27T00:23:00.000-04:00

after 2 and a half months, i have reached my last full day in israel. tomorrow i will (maybe) see the sunrise from the airport in tel aviv but i will see the sunset in zeeland mi. today will be a mixture of a tad bit of stress (exam :S) and a lot of fun... last hikes and our final play of the book of jonah... complete with singing and some very fun props. anyway, i have to go listen to the book of jonah one more time before class this morning...

shalom israel

mmm... yad hashemona in the evenings

2006-07-25T14:44:00.000-04:00

in my defense

2006-07-18T12:25:00.000-04:00

this is from a portion of an article on wikipedia:

Differences between spoken and written English
Spelling - Because of the many changes in pronunciation which have occurred since a written standard developed, English spelling is difficult even for native speakers to master. This difficulty is shown in such activities as Spelling Bees that generally require the memorization of words. English speakers may also rely on utilities like Spell checkers more than speakers of other languages, as the users of the spell checker may have forgotten, or never learned, the correct spelling of a word. The generalizations which exist are quite complex and there are many exceptions leading to a considerable amount of rote learning. The spelling system causes problems in both directions - a learner may know a word orally but not be able to write it correctly, or they may see a word written but not know how to pronounce it or mislearn the pronunciation.

pictures... and a video... (hopfully is works!)

2006-07-13T06:05:00.000-04:00

the following scenes include:
-my unfortunate encounter with a jelly fish
-the culprate,
-sunset in tel aviv... on class field trip where we acted out the story of jonah
-our second field trip where we acted out the story of david and goliath
-a pizza delivered to our moshav i:)... pizza complete with moter scotter delivery, hot sauce, and zartar (spice)
-video: acting out the story of david and goliath... this is much of what we do everyday :)

faith my eyes

2006-07-12T06:53:00.000-04:00

As I survey the ground for ants
Looking for a place to sit and read
I'm reminded of
The streets of my home town
How much they like this concrete
That's warm beneath my feet
And how I"m all wrapped up
In my mother's face
With a touch of my father
Just up around the eyes
And the sound of my brother's laugh
More wrapped up in what binds our
Ever distant lives.

But if I must go
Things I trust will be better off without me
But I don't want to know
Life is better off a mystery

So keep on coming
These lines on the raod
Keep me responsible
Be it a light or a heavy load
Keep me guessing
These blessings in disguise
I'll walk with grace me feet
And faith my eyes

The hometown weather is on TV
And I imagine the lives
Of the people living there
And I'm curious if they imagine me
They just to leave,
I wish that I could stay

I get turned around
And I mistake my happiness for blessing
And I'm blessed as the poor
Still I judge success by how I'm dressing

So I'll sing a song of my home town
Breathe the air and walk the streets
Maybe find a place to sit and read
But the ants are welcome company

books :):):)

2006-07-12T01:12:00.000-04:00

today i bought a book in hebrew... the book is about fraggle rock... this land is filled with strange and unexpected things

swimming holes of the summer...

2006-07-06T01:01:00.000-04:00

I LOVE SWIMMING!
1. the pacific ocean (fully clothed and very cold)
2. lake in the middle of bc forest (very cold)
3. the sea of galilee (pleasent)
4. the dead sea x 2 (very hot... hotter then the air... no refreshment but a lot of fun to float on!)
5. the pools of en gedi (waterfalls!!! :):)
6. the swimming pool at newe ilan (i'm not sure if it's clorinated or ever cleaned)
6. the mediterianian

yesterday was our class field trip to the mediteranian... we did scenes from jonah on the beach... i was jonah, which meant that at the end of the dialogue i was thrown into the sea...

after acting out our dialogues we had free time so i body surfed on the waves for a little while! so much fun! with only a minor incident when i got stung by a jelly fish... but hey that doesnt happen ever day!!!!!!

shalom from yad hashemona

happy birhtday jo!

2006-07-05T01:08:00.000-04:00

a very happy birthday wish goes out from israel to my wonderful, talented, and slightly sarcastic friend over in canada land.
jobert, you are wonderful and i hope that your birhtday is filled with the wonderfulness that comes with having birhtdays! i dont know how to say happy birthday in hebrew but if i did that's what i would have written here... so far all i can say is yom tov... good day :) so that will have to do.

captions for the adventures...

2006-06-30T07:52:00.000-04:00

so the pictures wouldnt show up when i uploaded them and i didnt know which one was witch from the html script, so here are the captions (in no particular order):
1- the pool at herod's palace in caesoria... very cool
2- my dad wondering around in solomon's pools
3- the dead sea round two... that is so much fun!
4- running around in the tunnels benieth the herodium built during the bar kokba revolt
5- an olive tree looking up to mt. carmel
6- a byzantine floor mozaic near the southern steps of the temple
7- am i really in israel... what in the world is this doing in jerusalem?

adventures...

2006-06-30T07:18:00.000-04:00

pit... ?

2006-06-29T10:31:00.000-04:00

today in class we played the card game pit in hebrew... it was fun

... this post is really to stall becuase i'm hoping to put up a better and more detailed post this weekend... but even though a stalling post- playing pit was a lot of fun... and a lot less dangerous then playing it in bc with sticks that cut up my hands :)

one week in

2006-06-23T13:39:00.000-04:00

i thought that at the close of the first week of class and with the onset of shabbat in israel once again i would blog a bit about what life is like in langauge learning land. but before i go on... the fact that it was the eve of shabbat today meant a very very very good meal for lunch today... it was a dairy meal which for my vegitarian self is much better then the usual meat meal that is at lunch. yum.
a day in the life of learning hebrew... (translated into english)
1a. i forgot this... so it is added as 1a... eat a large breakfast (yum... dairy meal! :)

1. begin with prayer in hebrew

2. go to the "classrooms" which may or may not also serve as the moshev's (the name of the type of town that we are staying in) bomb shelters.
3. spend the next four hours in class... here is an example of what we do

teacher: abigal (my hebrew name) stand
my response: stand
teacher: abigal jump (i jump)
teacher: pick up the sheep (plastic animal, not the real thing... although there is a real donkey outside that makes a lot of noise all day and i laugh everytime that it does, but that really has nothing to do with the class time)
put the sheep under the table (hopefully i pick up the sheep and put it on the table)
teacher: touch your stomach (i touch my stomach)
teacher: abigal sit (i sit)

here is another example
teacher: class stand (we stand)
teacher: go outside into the sun (we go outside into the sun)
teacher: go to the garden

when we get there we are told to go into the wine press and pretend that we are pressing wine... we also throw rocks a lot when we go to the garden

we have also created armies and fought a war against eachother... and today we sang a lot and learned a dance...

5. go and eat a large lunch at the buffet

6. do about 3 hours of listening homework during which i look at pictures and listen to a cd that has the descriptions in hebrew

7. eat a large dinner

8. watch the sunset

9. read the bible outload for an hour with others from the class

10. stumble into bed for a brain recharge

... so that is a day in the life... i still dont know the alphabet and i have not had to parse one single verb... life is good... and we our homework for this weekend is to learn our first dialoge from the book of jonah :) :) ... i'm also going to en gedi and qumran :) so here's to hoping that everything gets done

lessons from israel

2006-06-18T03:03:00.000-04:00

1: coming to a different country doesnt solve procrastination problems- the biblical ulpan starts today... and well... i only got to picture lesson three out of the ten that i was supposed to have gotten done BUT i have hope because last night we met up with the 6 western theological seminary students who are here and they said they were told not to study at all... here's to hoping!

2: i miss canadian legislation that disallows smoking in public places- i am sick of smelling smoke... it makes me feel sick... a little bit like right now in the less then ventelated internet cafe

3: spelling- they are very bad at spelling here... it makes me feel very much at home... although my spelling has gotten most likely worse (a tear of sadness goes down my face at this... soon no one will be able to read my writting becuase my spelling has gotten so terribly bad)

4: climbing- climbing up mt. arbel was SO fun... handholds and cabels and 50 foot sheer drops makes me happy inside.

5: the world is a small place and making connections- playing dutch bingo here is almost easier then doing it in western michigan... i think there is a special highway from here to there... also from rehoboth to here... as yesterday i met someone who is doing the ulpan who lived in gallup new mexico for a long time and went to rehoboth crc...

over 230 channels...

2006-06-11T13:18:00.000-04:00

... and not one of them showing a single minuet of the world cup!

what!?

the guest centre has one tv... which has 230 channels of news in (almost) every language you can thing of (excluding the random langauges that is)... and it also has about 30 channels in which you can watch catholic news... and about 15 channels of evangelical television (ok... those might be a bit of an exageration)...

imagine my dissapointment today when i turned on the tv to watch the holland game and there wasnt a soccer game to be found... tears...

but this story has a happy ending, my dad and i went to the new city and found a pub with a large screen tv (HUZZAH!) and it was showing the game... so i watched the game in hebrew (quite interesting when the only words that you know are the numbers 1-10 and a few random words like "house" and "fish"... which, in case you are wondering do not come in handy when watching a soccer game. although listening to the dutch names pronounced in hebrew made me smile :)

and there is a double happy ending becuase holland won... double HUZZAH :) and afterwards we went to a vegetarian resturante... yum! :)

shabbot shalom and west bank day

2006-06-10T01:55:00.000-04:00

mmm... it's my third shabbot here (and i'm getting used to the fact that the coffee machines are turned off on shabbot... along with a number of other things)

yesterday was a day of adventures (always fun and good to get the blood flowing :). i affectionatly labelled it as "west bank day/visit herod's crazy building projects day" one of the wonderful people that we met here (judith) took us in and gave us a tour around bethlahem and then to the herodium. the herodium was quite excitingly cool... i mean anytime someone builds a mountain to build a palace on top of it is worth going to see... both for the awesomeness and insanity of it. anyway, after going to the herodium, we may or may not have gotten lost in the west bank and toured around where many tourist most likely do not go... but oh well... we did get to see bethany and a place called lazareth car rentals with the slogan "we raise them everytime." (eep)

once we found our way through the maze of roads that change all the time (this bit of information i discovered from the number of times judith said, "this used to be the way to go/ there used to be a road here") we went down to jericho and visited the remains of old testament and new testament jericho. which were super super fun... particularly new testament jericho becuase it remains for the most part unexcavated... which means there are no things saying "stay out" which have always been an annoyance to me... anyway this post has gotten long enough... sorry about that... i hope that all have a wonderful day!

falafal

2006-06-06T12:29:00.000-04:00

well hello out there world...so i am borrowing a laptop right now and trying to upload some pictures... however the firewall here is making it quite difficult to do so (grrrr) ... i would like to start with a small ode

ode to falafal
by: gayle doornbos

at lunch i eat you
little fried green balls that are not blue
you are made out of chickpeas
but my stomach you rarely please
for you are fried in a pool of greace

but israels national sanck you are
you are sold at at least 50 shops in the bizzare
so ode to you falafal
although i would like a belgian waffle
but i will likely still eat you tomorrow

in other news... everyone should read how to read the bible to hear God speak:a study in numbers 22-24 by cal serveeld. i read it yesterday and i highly recommend it!

i dont recommend the book Jesus by david flusser. i read it two days ago and it is one of the less impressive books i have come across.

wahoo, so another one finally loaded. yesterday we went to jerusalem university college.... which demanded a picture becasue it is a rare thing to run across other university colleges... it also had an academic building which made me feel right at home

there has been one day of clouds... and the wind on the day i took this was gusting so hard i could hardly stand up

anyway, i think that is all that i will be able to get up for now.... i'm sorry that it could not be more
but it took me 45 min to get the three...

pentacost reflections (a day late...)

2006-06-05T01:35:00.000-04:00

-one of the things i love about being here is seeing the incredible connections between God's working in the old testament and how it is connected into the new testament. yesterday we celebrated pentacost which coincides with the festival of shavo'ot. shavo'ot is the festival of weeks and celebrates the wheat harvest... it also celebrates the giving of the law at mt. sinai. if you go down to the wall there are hundreds of orhtodox jews gathered together reading the law. so then, isnt it incredible that the festival at which the giving of the law is celebrated is also the very time when God sent the Spirit on his people so that the law would be "written on [our] hearts" i find that truly awe inspiring and it makes my insides all warm and smily :)

-i also had to smile that yesterday we went to an anglican service in the morning and the recter was in a full liturgical outfit completed with sandles :) this is definitly my kind of place :) :).

-and in other news... after searching for many many days... it has been determined that my wallet was stolen from our last hotel room. sadness about this comes from my heart... especially because there were many fun things inside of it that will not be able to be replaced... oh well though, these things happen... yesterday i bought a new wallet... here's to hoping no one finds this one as a good thing to steal.

... shabbot rest

2006-06-03T08:38:00.000-04:00

this city is hilly! today we walked to the top of the mount of olives... and took in a breathtaking view of the city. on our way up we passed by some hasmonian tombs... they were gigantic! afterwards we went back into the old city and sat in a square in the jewish quarter while having a snack of dried fruit (yum!). this land is so intriguing because mroe then anywhere else i have been you can tell what people believe by what they are wearing... and there is something both wonderful and sad to watch the orthodox jews on shabbot. they are so dedicated and yet missing so much. anyway, the count of dogs continues as i saw another one today... bringing the total up to 4... although i saw a pregnant cat... which means that there will continue to be an influx of stray cats in this land...

more from jerusalem

2006-06-02T08:20:00.000-04:00

thoughts from the day:
-this country takes seriously the no work on the sabbath and holidays command (evidenced in our search for an atm in the old city to day... apparently only the jewish quarter of the city has such things...)
-Christ's Chuch (an aglican church) has superb soup and delicious iced vanilla beverages
- i found mike and ikes in a store that reminded me of the lcbo + variety store + grocery store= the store of many things today...
- there are cats everywhere here... cat count= 100 + dog count= 3
- in the last 2 days i have gotten stuck in an elevator (in the hotel when we put 14 people into one elevator... one under the limit) and a bathroom (today at lunch) someone had to come and help me out of both places
- internet for 2.50 an hour is much cheaper then at the hyatt where it was 1 dollar for 4 minutes.
- the orthodox jews wear fur hats on shabbot... i am glad that i dont have to do this too!

and then there were 4

2006-06-02T03:10:00.000-04:00

hello all! the study tour official ended yesterday and now only 4 of us are left to explore the land and read a lot of books in our free time! my dad and i are staying with 2 other people who run an organization in holland, mi. anyway, i am saddened by the shrinking of our group but i am glad for the study tour to be done. it was a lot of fun and we went to a whole lot of very exciting places, but my reformed self had a bit of struggles with the teaching... by struggles i mean extreme frustrations. oh well though... God is, as always good and i have learned a whole lot so that is extremely exciting. :) today we are moving from our location at the hyatt regency hotel to another hotel located just outside the old city walls. i'm really excited aobut being close to the old city becuase this week is shavo'ot (sp?). so we will get to experience the festival from very close by. tonight we are planning to go to the western wall and see the ushering in of another shabbot... apparently they come down dancing and singing with the torah... i'm so excited to see this. last week we were at the wall and there were 3 barmizvahs (sp?) going on... seeing the celebration and the dancing around the torah was incredible. anyway, i've uploaded some pictures... i just realized that there was a usb on teh comps. here (they were hidden so dont laugh to hard at me..) so i thought i should make use of them and show a bit of the journey so far. dont worry to much aobut the land mines picture... we are safe and sound (it's just a part of the continuing saga of places that we werent supposed to go but did anywya... i ahve a photo logged for each one of the instances) on a totally different topic... the coffee machines dont run here on shabbot... this is a very sad thing for me! but alas... instant will have to do...

shalom!

update

2006-05-31T12:54:00.000-04:00

so i usually dont like to use my blog for updates in teh live of me... but internet is expensive and time is running out for this session... so instead of e-mails this will have to do... i apologize to all. so the quick update is that today i hiked up massada! so much fun. herod was both insane and a genius (that is what i learned from this trip up a very steep and tiring mountain. thewe went to en gedi and i jumped in the water and stuck my head under a waterfall... and after that we went to qumran to see the caves where the dead sea scrolls were found. and to top the day off i floated in teh dead sea... not to shabby if i must say so myself. well that is about all the time that i have for now... i am loving it here and in the future days i hope to post some pictures :) so shalom from jerusalem

maneuvering through one final road block...

2006-04-26T22:07:00.000-04:00

and so it is down to one last thing... a history of missions exam tomorrow night at 7... and then the adventures begin.
friday the choir departs for what is looking to be a wonderful tour to british columbia and the northwestern us.... i am hoping for sunshine the whole time even though the region doesnt always comply with such hopes.

on may 17th i arrive back in hamilton... for a breif stay and last minute packing up of the room that has been my home for the last 8 months.

on may 18th i say goodbye to hamilton for the summer and drive back to michigan... for another short visit

may 20th... i leave for two and a half months in israel.

oh REL 234 (history of missions) i do want you to be done so that summer can commense.

p.s. blogging may be sparce for a while... i am hoping that there will be some internet access on tour and in israel, but i'm not sure about the availability. until later... :)

2006-04-22T17:35:00.000-04:00

this makes me smile...

2006-04-20T22:02:00.000-04:00

reformed bible college just changed its name to kuyper college...
sweet! http://www.kuyper.edu/

cheers to the beautiful days...

2006-04-19T23:59:00.000-04:00

to frisbee in the quad,
to bike riding,
to walking to licks for ice cream
to sunburns and hair that gets white in the sun
to procrastination
to not wanting to study :)

oh exams how i long for you to be done... so that there would not be the threat of needing to study over my head...

random reflections from the world of respit...

2006-04-15T21:22:00.000-04:00

april has sprung upon me and is now half over, which i find hard to believe but with the middle of april comes a much anticipated journey home. i always enjoy the time i am able to spend at home... this time has been particularly enjoyable.

-on thursday i awoke to an empty house (the residents vacated to their various places of occupation or institutions of education), so i decided to make coffee, eat waffles, and read the local newspaper... on the front page was an interesting story about zeeland (the town which i come to when i visit my home). zeeland, besides being a dutch haven, is a dry town... meaning that the selling/buying of alcohol is forbidden. zeeland has been this way for a long time and they are now trying to change that. however, there is an ordinance that dissallows the selling of alchohol within 500 ft of a church or a school. therefore, even if the law was changed, the entirity of downtown zeeland could not sell alchohol due to the vast number of churches in the downtown area. i thought this was humourous and i'm interested in seeing how the whole thing turns out.

-also on thursdaywhile visiting the illustrious zeeland museum, i discovered that zeeland used to have a saloon... in 1901, when the liquere liscense ran out, it was not renewed. i also learned in a lovely chat with the ladies who ran the museum that 60 years ago there were only 5 non-dutch families in zeeland. becuase of their non-dutch affiliations they were not always welcomed into the community, so they started a club called "the america club" there was also an italian catholic who sold news papers on sunday. much complaining was done about this... but everyone bought papers from him on sundays anyway... oh zeeland... how ironic you sometimes are...

-sandles with the name chacho are very cool... and very comfortable

-friday, realized that i do indeed still have the talent of sleeping in... opps....

-also friday, my mom spilled two full glasses of water in one dinning experience

-and friday again... discovered that i am entirly unmotivated to do any of the rest of my school work... my brain has shut down and i think that i'll just ignore the work that looms on the floor next to me

-saturday- goodbye nine inches... you may or may not be missed.

-saturday- 4 trips to downtown holland in 2 days... i'm addicted to outdoors stores... and yes, i might have bought another backpack... oh dear... i'm a hopless case when it comes to backpacks...

dona nobis pacem- a request for prayers

2006-04-11T14:02:00.000-04:00

this past sunday 5 rehoboth students were on their way to santa fe and were in a serious car accident. one of the girls was killed, and 2 remain in the hospital undergoing sugery and rehibilitation. please pray for the community, it is a small one and things like this hit it deeply.

-thank you.

from the april issue of the banner

2006-04-05T23:05:00.000-04:00

News

New Denomination Seeks Affiliation

A small church denomination based in Kalamazoo, Mich., is seeking denominational unity with the Christian Reformed Church in North America. Believers of Grace—U.S. has about 200 congregations.

Rev. George Regen, moderator of Believers of Grace, explained that his denomination has always admired the Christian Reformed Church’s stance on social issues and is particularly delighted with the report of the synodical committee on war and peace that’s coming to Synod 2006.

Regen wrote to the CRC’s Interchurch Relations Committee to open talks on denominational unity. He cautioned that there are still several hurdles to overcome, particularly differences in the respective denominations’ understanding of Canons of Dort III/IV, Article 12 (“Regeneration a Supernatural Work”).

Rev. Ben DeRoels, chair of the IRC, is enthusiastic about the possible merger. “For the sake of unity, we need to show some flexibility in our doctrines,” he said.

DeRoels said the IRC is fast-tracking talks with the other denomination so that the possible merger will make it onto the agenda of Synod 2006 in June.

by Ima Lyon

2006-03-24T17:40:00.000-05:00

i like odd numbers

2006-03-15T08:22:00.000-05:00

i thought this was funny

2006-03-07T16:32:00.000-05:00

http://www.stumbleupon.com/demo.php?site=14&tag=satire

Miserere mei, Deus

2006-03-01T14:49:00.000-05:00

Psalm 51

1 Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
blot out my transgressions.

2 Wash away all my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin.

3 For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is always before me.

4 Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you are proved right when you speak
and justified when you judge.

5 Surely I was sinful at birth,
sinful from the time my mother conceived me.

6 Surely you desire truth in the inner parts ^[a] ;
you teach ^[b] me wisdom in the inmost place.

7 Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

8 Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones you have crushed rejoice.

9 Hide your face from my sins
and blot out all my iniquity.

10 Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

11 Do not cast me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.

12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
and sinners will turn back to you.

14 Save me from bloodguilt, O God,
the God who saves me,
and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.

15 O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.

16 You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;
you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.

17 The sacrifices of God are ^[c] a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart,
O God, you will not despise.

18 In your good pleasure make Zion prosper;
build up the walls of Jerusalem.

19 Then there will be righteous sacrifices,
whole burnt offerings to delight you;
then bulls will be offered on your altar.