finally done my class!

If you can't tell from the title of this post I'm finally done my class! If you didn't know, I was taking New Testament Foundations and it pretty much consisted of reading the New Testament, reading two text books on the New Testament, learning about each book in the New Testament, and writing about one of the books of the New Testament. I was actually incredibly excited for this class when I signed up for it but that was 13 months ago when I did that and a lot changed shortly after. Since then I have had a lot on my plate with physical issues and after finishing my treatment in December I continued to struggle with something I like to call "below average brain function". This pretty much entails bad memory, slow to recall words, having a short attention span, being unable to focus for long periods of time, and having a bad memory. With all of that said, finishing this class was a pretty exciting accomplishment! 

However I need to backtrack a little bit. A few months before the class was finished I decided I was going to take a break from school once finishing the class. I realized it would be silly of me to try to start another class while having a brain that is not at its best ability to retain large amounts of information in a set amount of time. Therefore... this is the year... this is the first year in the last 20 years that I won't be in school. 
This is the year that I can stay up late watching movies with friends because I don't have to go home and study! 
This is the year I can continue going to the gym in October, December, February, and April because I don't have to become a hermit to survive midterms and finals! 
This is the year that I can pursue the hobbies I never pursued, save up money to travel to the places that I never travelled and proofread all the papers for friends I was never able to proofread before (nerd alert). 
It's also the year I can finish all the books I've bought over the last however-many years and was never able to finish!! 
This is the year!!!! 
And although I don't know what it holds, I know it will be a good one. Why?
Because this is the year.

Hebrews question...

Today's devo/question comes from the book of Hebrews. I'm trying to finish up a New Testament class right now and tonight I was studying a little bit from the book of Hebrews. "Hebrews" was written to Greek-influenced Jewish Christians who were believed to have been living in Rome. These Jewish Christians were experiencing extreme persecution for their faith and were debating whether or not it would be a good idea to continue on with their Christianity when it could potentially lead to their decease. 

In the midst of their struggle, the author of Hebrews wrote to them:

³⁵ do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded.³⁶ You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised... ³⁹ But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved.  

Hebrews 10:35-36 & 39

After struggling through my review questions I finally got to the reflection questions. The first question seemed easy enough to answer but the second stirred something inside of me. It read "Would you continue to observe your faith if you knew that you would be executed for it tomorrow?" What a difficult question. I couldn't even begin to comprehend what being in that situation would feel like. Still, large amounts of believers are living under these situations even to this day. Some live in countries where they could be cast out, persecuted, or even killed for their faith. 

Therefore, because our global brothers and sister in Christ are having to ask themselves this question, possibly on a daily basis, I encourage you to ponder this very same question in your own life... Would you continue to observe your faith if you knew that you would be executed for it tomorrow?

If you need some encouragement to start I've put my answer below... 

I think it would be much harder to continue to hold my faith under those circumstances. I also think that while holding my faith I would continue to have an internal struggle with myself where half of me would be focused on self-preservation while the other half would be focused on eternal-self-preservation. I wish it could come down to my love of God (instead of love of my life) but the life/death situations I have found myself in have caused me to realize that, oddly, our flesh sometimes runs deeper than our hearts. In those same life/death situations, however, I’ve come to the realization that if you’re not continuing with God then there’s really no point to continue at all. 

Vegetarian Mexi-Lasagna Recipe

Saturday night is my night to cook at home (it's not the only day I cook it's just the day that I must cook). This Saturday I decided to make a Vegetarian Mexi-Lasagna which was inspired by my friend, Grim, who made me an amazing Mexican Lasagna a few months ago. She's quite the amazing chef so this recipe is almost as good as hers. But I promise it's still good and it goes deliciously on either a summer, fall, or winter night. It's also very easy to make and takes almost no time at all!

There are 6 main steps to this recipe which I've outlined below!

1. Set your oven to 375˚F and get all of your ingredients together:

• 3 big kale leaves 
• a handful of spinach
• 1 1/2 peppers (I chose red)
• 1 small onion (I did half a red onion & half a yellow onion)
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 can of black beans
• 1 can of corn
• handful of cilantro
• pepper & salt
• 1 small can of tomato paste & same amount of water
• olive oil
• tortillas
• grated cheese! As much or as little as you want! You can never have too much cheese!
• cayenne spice (optional)

2. Dice the onions & garlic and sauté them in some olive oil at the bottom of a pot on medium heat. Chop up the kale & spinach to small pieces as well about the size of half of your palm. Throw the kale & spinach on top of the sautéing onions & garlic and let the leaves shrink with the heat (5-10min). Throw in the tomato paste, water, salt, pepper, and any other spices you may want to add (i.e. cayenne) and let it stew for another 5-7min.

3. While the pot is stewing, thoroughly rinse the black beans and corn and then mix in a bowl with the chopped up peppers and cilantro. Once the items in the pot have let the flavours mix for the 5-7minutes, mix them in with the items in the bowl until they look like a delightful mexi-mix.

4. In any sized pan that you would like, line your pan with parchment paper (unless you don't have any in which case it will be fine) and then do a tortilla layer (1 tortilla thick), a mexi-mix  layer (enough so that you can't see the tortilla underneath), and a cheese layer (amount depends on what you prefer). Continue doing layers until you've used up all your mexi-mix in the bowl. Finish off your creation by covering it with cheese and then place it in the oven for 25 minutes (the longer you keep it in the oven, the crunchier the tortillas will be).

Sombrio roadies

This is the summer of roadtrips for me. I have vowed with a number of different people to travel the island throughout the summer in a number of different roadtrips and also even make a roadtrip down to Disneyland!

Last Saturday was the first of these exciting roadtrips; and the secret destination was to... Sombrio! I went with my beautiful friends Betsy, Morgan, and Emily. The three of us went to celebrate Betsy's birthday because BETSY IS THE BEST AND WE LOVE HER!!!! We started our journey by driving up the #14 highway until we finally hit Sombrio. Googlemaps told me it would be about 1h21min drive but it was almost a 2 hour drive, we didn't mind though because it was a lovely drive with lovely company. (Although be warned if you get motion sickness be sure to sit in the front!)

Upon arriving at Sombrio we walked through the wood-chip trail that looked like a scene out of Twilight and found ourselves on the rocky beach that is Sombrio. When scoping the different beaches online I had heard that there was a waterfall at Sombrio but every time I go to find one of these outdoor "tourist attractions" it seems as though you have to cross a mountain, river, and valley to get there. However, this is magically not the case with Sombrio! Also, Sombrio has not one but two waterfalls. The first waterfall easy enough to get to because it is a small walk up the beach and a small walk up a river. The other waterfall, however, is a slightly bigger walk up the beach, which really is not a big deal at all, and a half-mountain that you have to scale in order to see it. Still, it was worth it. If you don't believe me you can either check out my pictures or pump your car full of gas, call up some friends, and make the trip yourself -- I promise it's worth it!

Happy Mother's Day to my mother

It's Mother's Day today and this morning I found myself to the point of tears thinking about the mother figures I have in my life. I have been blessed with so many wonderful women that have cared for me, encouraged me, prayed for me, strengthened me, and help me get to where I am today.

The one person I want to celebrate and thank today, though, is my mother Cecilia. Words can't express how much my mother has sacrificed to help me become the person I am today. She did everything she could to make my sister, Selina, and my life experiences the best possible and even sacrificed things in her own life to ensure we would never have to sacrifice things in ours. She spent countless hours driving us to swimming lessons, skating, gymnastics, ballet, piano classes, volleyball practice, walking us to school, picking us up from friend's houses, and making us vegetable salads for dinner and fruit salads for breakfast. Honestly, she has made an immeasurable amount of salads in her life. 

My mother is also the person whose opinion seemed to matter most when I didn't believe I was able to accomplish something. If she told me I could do something -- I believed it.  However, she didn't stop with encouragement, she helped me to the point of financially and emotionally aiding me in going to Thailand with Adore, Mexico with Kendra, and in getting a university degree from UVic. All of these accomplishments I have in my life I should give credit to her for, because without her assistance I would have failed to pursue any of them. Then, this past year, she planned to take some time off so that she could look after me for a few weeks after my knee surgery; and ended up taking care of me for six months instead. 

She's been there for me in the best times of my life and has stuck by my side in the worst times in my life. For every person that has a difficulty understanding God's unconditional and sacrificial love I feel sorry for them because although she may not be perfect, my mother's love comes pretty darn close. So for the child I once was, for the girl I use to be, and for the young lady I am today: thank you.

my bed.

The other day I was in bed waiting to fall asleep when I started being so incredibly thankful for how wonderful, cozy, and comfy my bed is. "I love my bed," I thought to myself and then instantly thought of 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 (which if you don't know it from every wedding you've ever been to I've quoted it below)...

⁴ Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant ⁵ or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; ⁶ it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.⁷ Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

I truly enjoy this passage because it states that love is an action and not a feeling. We can love different things very much without ever having feelings of love towards them. However, this passage is suppose to be a guideline to how we should treat people because it is an example of what true love is. (note: by "true love" I don't mean the Disney version like "true love's first kiss" but the God version because 1 John 4 teaches us that God = Love). Anyhoo, when thinking of this passage a few days ago I realized that I am better at loving my comfy bed than I am at loving people!

I find it difficult to be patient with people who test my patience, yet every time my bed is cold and I jump into it I patiently wait for it to warm-up without complaint. 

I am sometimes unkind to people who push my buttons, yet I would never call my bed names when I walk outside of my room or when talking with friends.

I do not boast to my bed, envy my bed, feel resentful towards my bed, or insist on having my way against my bed because I have no intention of comparing myself to my bed. 

After coming to these realizations I came to the conclusion that I am better at loving most of the inanimate objects in my life (i.e. my computer, my favourite sweater, my lamp, my running shoes, etc.) than I am at loving people! I know it's different circumstances because I got to choose and purchase the majority of the objects in my life: try them on, pick out my favourite colour, and wear them in so they feel just right. But how much more meaningful are people than things? Tom Haverford, from Parks and Recreation, says that "love fades away but things, things are forever." This is an awful but hilarious quote, but it proves my point quite perfectly. Love is what should be forever but if love is an action and my actions towards my inanimate objects are better than the actions I have towards the people around me then although I believe "Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, [and] endures all things" (1 Corinthians 13:7) then I'm really just living as though the "things are forever."

Ironically, I am writing this from my bed. 

F(rig)MyLife: Valentine's Day Edition

I asked my girl friends to send in stories of funny boy/Valentine's day events throughout their lives and these lovely stories are the outcome... I've also highlighted my favourite parts of the stories and have found some valuable life-lessons in them. Once again they are anonymous!

Story #1: The good 

So this one time: A boy I liked mucho-lots and I were going on our first date. And it had been a long time coming so we were verver excited. We were all dressed up and set to take a romantic walk through a vineyard. However, by the time we drove out to the vineyard, I had to go to the bathroom REALLY BADLY and I didn't know what to do because there was nowhere to go and NO WAY I was going to bring it up. So I decided not to say anything and we started walking through the vineyard. A little ways into the walk our conversation was very limited and his mind seemed very preoccupied, so I asked what was up. He said, "I am super embarrassed to say this, but I really have to go to the bathroom." Bonus points for standing watch while the other goes pee in a vineyard? YUP. Most romantic date I've ever been on.

Story #2: The bad

It was Valentine's day and I was in grade 12… I had been “dating” this guy for about two or three week. No, “ seeing” this guy, No… Well to be quite frank I didn’t know what he was to me at the time. It was a really new relationship, and that being said, I didn’t think that Valentines Day would be a factor in it. I could not have been more wrong. 

On Valentine's Day about 10 of us decided that an evening BBQ would be the best way to celebrate the day and in true high school fashion- avoid doing homework… The BBQ would be hosted by the guy that I was “seeing”, or “dating”, or “whatever-you-want-to-call-it-ing”. We didn’t attend the same school, so I hadn’t seen him all day, I arrived at his house and he had a huge bouquet of beautiful roses and a purple (lavender scented) teddy bear for me, along with a card. In retrospect the card is my favorite part, on the front it said “To My Girlfriend Who I Love Very Much” Aahhhhhhhh. In the time it took to read a card I went from not having a relationship status to having a boyfriend who would actually put the word L.O.V.E on paper- after 3 weeks. Needless to say I was flattered. And Freaked out. I decided that he must have left it for the last minute and the store must have been all sold out of awkward relationship status free cards so I didn’t over think, it I just embraced the gifts and graciously thanked him. I say “graciously” because I haven’t mentioned yet that given our undetermined relationship I had failed to get him ANYTHING for Valentines. I didn’t even make him a card out of notebook paper. Well our friends soon arrived. I had my arms laden with gifts and quickly excused myself to the bathroom as everyone swapped stories of what they had received that day; just in time to not have to listen to my new “boyfriend” that “loved” me tell them that he had received a large amount of NOTHING. Cringe. Moral of the story: don’t make assumptions. Status or no status, be prepared with 

something you can pull out of your purse if he catches you off guard.

Story #3: The ugly

okay! here is a pitiful (wonderful) story of why boys suck!

Day 1 of my singleness started with a bright and early 8am breakup. There's really no better way to start your day! The next couple of hours are vague, but I do recall a lot of crying, puking, shopping, and chocolate-eating. Days passed and a pattern emerged: cry. puke. pray. sleep. cry. shop. chocolate. repeat. As you study the trend you'll notice that the only food ingested was of the chocolate variety... and there was A LOT of chocolate.

Fast forward to day 3. My first day as "the new me". What better way to jumpstart my new life than with a gym pass, I thought. The future was looking bright as I toddled up the stairs to my first fitness class, empty stomached (minus the chocolate) and light headed (due to the crying). Yet, I figured nothing could get in my way! However, a minute into the class things did get in my way: the TRX contraptions hanging from the ceiling, the boys on the volleyball court, the girls in the hallway, and the door to the washroom. All these things got in my way because 30 seconds into our cardio sprint I ran out of the fitness studio to go puke my guts out.

As I lay in the washroom with my arms clinging to the toilet for support, (my TRX instructor awkwardly rubbing my back), puking up all the chocolate inside of me.. I thought to myself, "this is rock bottom... I can never come back to this gym... and this is all HIS fault."

I'm glad to say I've now picked myself up off that dirty bathroom floor; I've regained my dignity at the gym; survived a breakup, a TRX class, and a diet of only chocolate; and I have also now proved once and for all that the term "love sick" is a valid condition but not a fatal one.

Story #4: The alone

Last Valentine's Day I was living in res at UVic and Valentine's day fell on a Saturday and I didn't have any plans so my friend in res told me I should go with her to the mainland because she was going to visit her family and her boyfriend. She assured me that she would only have breakfast with her boyfriend and spend the rest of the day with me so I agreed thinking it would be a fun weekend.
Off we went to Vancouver and when Saturday finally arrived she went out for breakfast with her boyfriend while I stayed at her house with her family and ate breakfast and did some homework. She came home a few hours later with flowers and chocolates that her boyfriend had given her and then informed me she was actually going to spend the rest of the day with him but she came back to drop me off the chocolates (that he had given her). So, I ended up spending Valentine's Day alone in a stranger's house eating chocolates that weren't even meant for me. But if you think about it, I did actually get chocolates indirectly from a boy...

Story #5: The end

And, last but not least, I wanted to share a message my friend sent me when I asked her to contribute to my blog post for today:

Yeah! My only actual Valentine was when I was 6 years old... It was great but who cares. I'm turning 21 & I'm still single and have no Valentine this year. That's my story lol. I think it's sad but hilarious because the fact is guys aren't ready fo dis jelly #boom

So, if you're single and the stories themselves didn't help you feel pumped about Valentine's Day hopefully that message did. If you're single it's not because you're not a super fly fox but because the world just isn't ready "fo [yo] jelly hashtag boom."