Okay, so it’s been a few days since I’ve blogged…I’ve been lazy, tired, and in quite a bit of physical pain lately…but that should be no excuse. It seems my hips keep going out of place, and sitting in front of a computer doesn’t really help. I’m still not sure what would help, or what is making it so bad, but the chiropractor treatments seem to help a bit (for a while anyway).

So I finally submitted my work visa application to work in Ireland. I should receive my final SWAP kit in 2-3 weeks. So now it’s time to start booking a place to stay and potentially looking for work.

Work@Home: At the moment I don’t have a (real) job, but could use some cash. With no clients on the horizon, my web design business looks like it’s not going to give me much money in the near future. So that means I’m looking for something to do for the next month. Who wants to hire someone for only a month? That brings me to the question: Do I tell them I’ll only be there for Janurary? That could potentially destroy my chances of working for someone…but if they do hire me, they’d at least know that I’d be leaving and wouldn’t be mad at me for quitting so soon (*cough*Tim Hortons*cough*). So I don’t know what I’m going to do in those regards yet.

Maybe now I’ll talk a bit about my trip to Saskatoon. It was AWESOME! I was there for over 2 weeks and got to spend LOTS of time with Kim, which was SOOOOOO much fun. I got to spend time with her family, which was tonnes of fun too. She has such a cool family – so warm, friendly, and inviting. It’s such a blessing to know them. And it would seem that things between Kim and I are stronger than they ever were before, so I’m excited about that. Sometimes things need to be broken before they can repair and heal to be stronger. I’m excited about giving her the other present I got her for christmas. She’ll be getting it when we depart for Europe.

Welp, I think I’m done for now…Happy New Year

Long far away
in a land with skies of grey
is a place that calls my name
this call must I answer

Eerily calm
and in my heart is a song
words to fill my life
this land must I run to

Hope for tomorrow
no room for lost sorrow
with faith to fill my heart
this test must I take

Adventure to come
a high risk may think some
a journey into the unknown
this path must I walk through

I bought my plane ticket to Ireland today!!!!! WOO! I’m super duper pumped! I leave February 4, 2004. It’s gonna be one heck of a sweet trip. I still have to save up some more money to qualify for my visa…so that might be a little tough. I might actually have to look for a ‘real’ job for January :S unless someone knows of a website that needs designing (email me if you do). So, I’m going to Ireland February 4, then going to Germany April 30, and coming back home on May 15. Two weeks in Germany! Awesome…I’ll finally be able to use my german again. This should be the scariest thing I’ve ever done…but the weird thing is…I’m not scared about it. I’m going to be hours away from anyone I know, I have no job or place to stay set up yet, living in a country I know very little about…and I’m not scared. Maybe it just hasn’t sunk in yet…who knows. So yeah…awesome possum! (haha, inside joke ) If anyone has any extra time to keep praying for me, that would be great. Things will be tough for me, and I completely need to be in God’s care the whole time. I know I won’t be able to handle it without Him.

Matthew 18:3-6 (NLT) – Then he said, “I assure you, unless you turn from your sins and become as little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven. Therefore, anyone who becomes as humble as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. And anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf is welcoming me. But if anyone causes one of these little ones who trusts in me to lose faith, it would be better for that person to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone tied around the neck.”
[NIV | MSG | KJV | AMP]

I just got back from my youngest sister’s “winter concert”. Elementery school kids are hillarious. The kids up there were having so much fun. They were singing, dancing, clapping their hands, and just having a good time making noise. The other kids in the audience were screaming and cheering as loud as teenaged girls scream at boy-band concerts. It was a really fun experience. One thing I noticed, however, was that the older the kids got, the less enthusiastic they seemed to be. They seemed to be embarassed to be up there. Even though they were doing the same thing as every other kid up there, they weren’t enjoying themselves (some of them were still into the program and having fun though). What is it that seems to corrupt kids? Why is it as they get older, they seem to enjoy everything less? Seriously, grade sixers are still stinking young. They should be able to still jump up and down singing a song and have fun with it. But kids these days seem to worry too much about self-image at such a young age. When I see those little grade one kids I can’t help but notice how much life they have inside them. Most of them had no clue what they were singing, but they didn’t care. They were jumping and making noise. What would happen if we, as adults, would look at life the same way. Sure, we have more wisdom (for the most part ) but why can’t we use that wisdom and still enjoy life like a little child. What’s with all the stuffy older people that get frustrated at kids who just want to have fun while jumping, screaming, and moving around with no real reason? I say suck it up…look at the life inside…and start jumping with them! It’s great to be a goof. Life was meant to be enjoyed. God tells us to be like little children. Not worrying about the world. Take that into worship with you…jump, scream, shout, make a joyful noise like a little child. Don’t worry about what the people around you are doing…do it all for God with all your might. Have fun with it like a little child would.

This Brings me to my rant…slightly related, but not really. It’s the Christmas season. Most people in North America know a little bit about the real reason for Christmas. The thing that cheeses me off is that it seems schools are not aloud to talk about the Christian holiday. Teachers are aloud to teach pretty much any custom from around the world for what they do in their “winter holidays” as long as it’s not Christian. So much for freedom of speech and information. “Religion will not be taught in schools. We will teach the kids about eastern ‘philosophy’, Buddha, Customs of Muslim people, but it is wrong to teach anything about Christian religion.” That is just so stupid. If religion is not supposed to be taught in schools, why are they teaching everything except Christianity? Shouldn’t Christianity be given the same worth in the school curriculum as Budhism, Greek Mythology, Islam, and the other religions they teach the history on? Kids today without a knowlege of Christ will go to school and learn about all these other religions and customs around the world, but they won’t hear about Christ. Children are so trusting and willing to learn, yet they are not getting the information that might make a difference in their future life. Of course Kids can’t just be told about God and about Christ, they have to be shown. But I still believe that they have to be given the opportunity to know about this wonderful God who sent His Son to die for us. I do not believe it is the school’s obligation to do that at all. I just think that someone should do it, and the schools should stop teaching other religions if they are refusing to teach Christianity. I think I’ve gone all over the place with this post, and probably not making sense…and I’m too lazy to go back and proof read and try to fix it up to make sense…so take it as you will.

My life is rated PG-13.
What is your life rated?

Okay, after seeing that Kim’s life is rated PG-13, I thought I’d take a look at what my life is rated…what a rip! Only PG-13 also! All those blood filled fights and all the f***ing cussing I do still didn’t put it up higher!