5 girls on a little couch

ribbon creek

on saturday we went on a hike in kananaskis for focus

it was so beautiful...at some points we were completely surrounded by mountains

we climbed for a couple hours, even through snow, but the waterfall we saw at the end was definitely worth it

the way back only took about an hour, which was really nice (a bit hard on the knees coming down) and once we got to the bottom it started to rain

unfortunately for a few of us who got down first, curtis had the keys to the van and somehow he was 40 minutes behind us on the mountain

we were a wee bit damp and chilly by the time he arrived to let us in the van, but such is life, and it was still a lovely day minus the being really cold and wet part

thora's grad celebration

we went to moxie's to celebrate thora graduating from auc/nuc

yay thora!

pray that she is able to find a job soon...

indian night

on monday nights wycliffe has "cultural nights" where you go and eat food and sing worship songs of a specific culture. this monday was indian night, and stawan and shavenish were both leading worship. merissa joined them as well, since she's this random music guru and happened to listen to indian worship music even though she didn't know what the words meant and so she knew pretty much all the songs they were singing.

well, indian girls love getting dressed up, so none of us were going to miss the opportunity either.

shay and stawan of course got into traditional clothes too.

if you want to hear some of the songs we sang, i'm putting some videos here. i love this beautiful music. it's such a wonderful thing to be led into the presence of God through music from a different culture and in a different language.

mini golf

Today I handed in my last assignment for my Heaven, Hell, Angels, and Demons course. Feels good to be done. But actually it wasn't weighing on me very heavily, because I don't have that wonderful "stress relieved" feeling.

Last night I took a break from my paper on demonization and mental illness and went mini golfing with some people from Focus.
I gave Steve my camera to take pictures because I was playing the game and he wasn't.

I would like to mention that although I was playing the game that does not mean I was playing it well.

Josh had a little trouble with his club...
"Why did you forget to get one?"

"because I'm stupid"

our golf balls made a triangle by the triangle on the green

so impressive

it's true...eventually you can blow the golf ball in the hole

Oh yeah! in other oh-so-exciting news, I got an A on my assignment on Ecclesiastes.

AND the blurb.com people are going to print me another book (that's right this time) for free. sweet!

AND (seriously, today is a really good day)

We got a house!!!

The Valley Song

You have led me to the sadness
I have carried this pain
On a back bruised, nearly broken
I'm crying out to You

I will sing of Your mercy
That leads me through valleys of sorrow
To rivers of joy

When death like a gypsy
Comes to steal what I love
I will still look to the heavens
I will still seek your face
But I fear you aren't listening
Because there are no words
Just the stillness and the hunger
For a faith that assures

I will sing of Your mercy
That leads me through valleys of sorrow
To rivers of joy

Alleluia, alleluia
Alleluia, alleluia

While we wait for rescue
With our eyes tightly shut
Face to the ground using our hands
To cover the fatal cut
Though the pain is an ocean
Tossing us around, around, around
You have calmed greater waters
Higher mountains have come down

ecclesiastes 3

open mic night at the house

snow?

i know this picture is from last year, but i like it and i miss the people in it. also, it reminds me of what snow looks like, because this whole global warming thing is niet goed! but apparently calgary weather is always up and down and random like this, what with chinooks and all, so oh well. as long as i get to go toboganning and hopefully snowboarding before winter is over, i'm happy. and truthfully, i'd like spring to come really soon...i miss the sun!

old friends

over christmas break i got to catch up with a bunch of old friends, so here are some pictures. other pictures, as always, are available for your viewing pleasure at www.dropshots.com/thommy

this is bethl, roz, and me (r-l)

this is kristina and me...i met her a year ago in amsterdam. she was with the ywam group that stayed with us for a month or two.

amelia and i went to rochester together, and this is her with her friend sara diaz. who is now sara gigi, but she'll always be sara diaz to us.

i met up with a whole bunch of people at the old toad. this is a pic of pete and jon.

this is cristy and me. she came back from japan for christmas this year, so it was cool to see her again.

this is me with peter

this is jon and holley...they got engaged on new years eve!

this is holley and me

this is nate cronk and cristy...probably soon to be engaged

this is me with mya...the top half of her face looks like jay and the bottom half looks like marie. she's a cutie, and it was nice to hold a baby again