Red Rover

A childhood game? You know it. To be played only by children? ‘H’ no! The anticipation of someone charging at you, the chant running through your head encouraging you to hold on for dear life, the excitement that spills over when you realize you have once again succeeded at gaining another player for your team – all simple joys that should be enjoyed by people of all ages.

So why the red rover plug? I had the immense pleasure of being involved in an Olympic red rover round – O3R as I’d like to refer to it as. Monumental. Historical. Moving. Inspiring. And of course – Hilarious! Last Saturday I hung out downtown with 14 awesome people – scouring the streets to find the free stuff, exploring the pavilions, chumming it up with fellow Canadians. You have to love how the Olympics creates a family feel in the hearts of everyone – you talk to anyone downtown as if you’ve known them for years. Love the community effect!!

Allow me to set the scene for you – four of us have just crossed the street. The rest of our group was caught on the other side by the red light. While waiting for the light to change to green, Andrew has a brilliant idea – “we should challenge them to a game of red rover”. Done and done! We link hands. Hearts quickening. Excitement rising. The light turns yellow. The light turns red. Their light turns green. We scream – “Red Rover Red Rover, we call EVERYONE OVER”. Tearing from the crowd, a lady in red started charging towards us. Our grips tightened. The rest of our group looked on in horror and amazement. After successfully holding her back, and winning her to our side, we exchanged laughs, and she went on her merry way. Our group got across the street, and the questions started firing – “who was that lady?”, “you guys knew her right?”, “was she a family friend?”. Amidst our laughter, we explained that we had absolutely no idea who that stranger had been, but she had, quite obviously, made our day by joining in the fun!


“So powerful is the light of unity that it can illuminate the whole earth” ~ unknown

Odds and Ends

There is no limit to the benefits that come with being a friend of someone who is health conscious. I strive to follow the food guide – giving my body all the necessary nutrients it so craves – but when it comes to tricks of the trade, Ams is my go to person! I can’t even come close to knowing half the stuff she knows. For instance – did you know that having lemons in your water helps to clean your blood? So from now on, when I ask for it in restaurants, I almost want to say “it’s for health reasons” – cause clearly it is! Who wouldn’t want to shine up that stuff pumping through their veins?

Speaking of red (great transition right?!) – yesterday was a glorious day in history: I got to experience the passing of the Olympic torch. And ladies and gentlemen, the hype is definitely all it’s cracked up to be. I’m sorry to have to inform you all that I have caught the Olympic fever – I should probably stay home for the next few weeks until I’m fully recovered (wink!). It was quite exciting though – Steve (I think that was his name) had such enthusiasm as he ran – he was jumping and cheering and smiling...definitely a top five moment for him! The crowds of red and white just made me smile. The one time that you don’t mind looking like the person standing next to you. The one time you wear red even if it clashes with your skin tone. The one time you high five a person for wearing the same sweater! I can’t wait to head downtown and get to be a part of the buzz – bring on Saturday!


“Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow” ~Unknown

The Art of Being Cultured

It is possible, no matter what age, to find joy in discovering new cultures – the foods, the traditions, and yes, even the music and dance. My newly discovered culture, or rather newly refreshed love, is India. Can we please begin with a brief reflection on the clothing – I love the colour in the material...so very vibrant and full of life! The sarees are so light and comfy – I’m not sure I would do anything but dance all the time in them! And as for the food – “mm” doesn’t even come close to expressing even a tenth of what it’s like for your taste buds to experience Butter Chicken and Naan bread. On top of all the other reasons to love India, my two kids are from there. Wait. What? I have two kids?! Sure do. Adopted (aka sponsored) little Roma (my 5 yr old boy) about 2 years ago, and about a year ago added my little girl, Ritu (about 4 yrs old). I love getting to correspond with them. Despite the fact that most of our communication is through pictures right now, I love the idea that I’ll get to see them grow up (I have a secret plan to set them up when they’re older...I just think they would be so cute together!). I figured since I was going to be a part of their lives (in some aspect) I should at least learn about their culture. I hope to someday visit them, but until then, I’ll try and experience what I can of India while here in North America.

Who better to experience this culture with than my youth girls! We decided for our group night that we wanted to have Indian food and attempt to learn some Indian dance moves – perhaps even going as far as to make a Bollywood music video. Our night began with a delectable selection of Vegetable Pakora, Butter Chicken, rice, Naan bread and Saag. We quickly found ourselves stuffed, packed up our leftovers (at the suggestion of our waiter who claimed “we deserved it”), and embarked on our second adventure – the art of Bollywood music videos. After watching numerous clips online (thank goodness for youtube), we proceeded to recreate, to the best of our ability and with our own creative additions, a video of the Slum Dog song “Jai Ho”. Three observations I made:

1) It’s a lot of work to dance like those in India
2) Little trampolines are very useful for dramatic effect
3) Four white girls attempting to make an Indian music video is beyond hilarious!!!!

I’m happy to say it was a successful evening. We learned lots. We created awesome memories. And we decided we want to further culture ourselves by trying out new ethnic food more often.

“If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door” ~ Milton Berle

Dear...

Dear Blog,

Apparently this is how Andrew (my brother) thinks that I should be posting. So, in honour of him, I’m writing to you. In facebook world today, it seems that everyone was checking out this “urban dictionary” that tells you the meaning of your name and characteristics about people with that name – sometimes a little on the inappropriate side, but other times, quite true. I’ve decided to leave a list of my favourite definitions. You can judge which ones you think are true, which ones you think are highly unlikely, or perhaps share one you think is missing from the list. Nothing like having a blog all about yourself right, blog?! Be sure to check your name out – it’s a great self boost! :)

The name Laura, as defined by urbandictionary.com, is as follows:
-Adorable
-Possibly the rudest person you will ever meet
-Cute
-A beautiful name, in fact, one of the best names ever
-Guys want her, and girls want to be her
-Has many friends
-One of the kindest most beautiful chicks you’ll ever meet. The kind you never let go of.
-A girl who is awesome in every way, can be shy at times and crazy the next (especially when she is sugar high), but is always a fun person to be around. She likes to make lists (too true) and keep everything in order. She loves to be creative with her stories she writes, and takes too many photos on her camera. She loves to hang out with a group of friends at all times. Reading is a pastime, and she barely ever misses a TV show. You will never regret meeting a Laura. Best traits: she can keep secrets when she wants to, can always cheer people and friends up, and knows the right moment when a friend’s in need.
-Doesn’t talk to people she thinks aren’t worth her time
-Loves photography
-One of the most beautiful girls you will ever meet!
-Friendly
-Classy
-Gentle
-Elegant
-The most intelligent person ever!
-Artistic
-A great taste in music
-A beautiful sexy woman that should be treated like a princess at all times
-Amazing hair!!
-The biggest babe ever

P.S. Blog, I just happened to check out what your name meant and thought it was pretty interesting:
-A meandering, blatantly uninteresting online diary that gives the author the illusion that people are interested in their life. Consists of such riveting entries as "homework sucks" and "I slept until noon today."
-A recent and disturbing trend on the internet

Don’t feel bad, blog. I don’t think any of it is true!

The Seasons of Life

I don’t normally like analogies. 98% of the time they are too cliché! Guys use car, farming or fishing parallels. Girls use shopping and cooking comparisons. It makes me laugh, especially when the individual is so serious about them. I will confess, though, that there is one analogy that resonates with me – the seasons. I’ve heard people refer to the many different life situations we encounter as “The Seasons of Life” – spring, summer, fall, and winter. Just like with any season, we are always anticipating the next – sometimes loving where we are, but always looking forward to a new time of year.

I’m at a season in my life where I’m learning – learning and waiting. I do love learning things – sometimes challenging stuff, and sometimes little details I never realized. Regardless, new seasons bring growth and I love being able to see myself move forward. Here are a few areas of “growth” that I’ve taken note of. Enjoy!

I’m learning that I will never be ok with eating raw tomatoes.
I’m learning to leave things in God’s hands.
I’m learning that life is one big adventure.
I’m learning that bad things happen to good people – they just do. But with that, I’m learning that God can change even the worst situation into something beautiful!
I’m learning that church politics don’t make sense to me – and I wonder if they ever will!
I’m learning that I love change, but need time to adjust.
I’m learning what patience really means.
I’m learning to budget – so very difficult for me though!
I’m learning to cook!
I’m learning drinking 8 cups of water a day really is good for you.
I’m learning that there are so many different ways to decrease my debt (Norwex anybody?).
I’m learning that it really does matter if I go green.
I’m learning that it breaks my heart when I think about grumpy people – cause there is so much in life to enjoy, why waste it being a grouch?

I'm learning that it's taking me a long time to become the person I want to be.


“You learn something every day if you pay attention” – Ray LeBlond

The Art of Life

The theme as of late seems to keep coming back to inspiration and how we all vary when it comes to what it takes to stir a passion in us. Today I’m thinking about art. Perhaps because I have a fabulous new calendar with various art pictures for each month. Yes. I did cheat and look through the entire calendar, but already I can’t remember what February’s picture is – and I’m counting down the days ‘til I get to see it again.

Side note: I love surprises. Rarely do they occur for me. Not because I figure them out (even if I suspected something, I wouldn’t allow myself to come up with theories). I assume it’s because my face screams “trustworthy secret keeper” – I’m always the one that finds out about a surprise coming because the person planning it needs to share with at least one person. So....for me...surprises, when they do happen, make my day!!!

Side note rant over. Back to art.

Another reason why it’s on my mind today is because I recently created an iGoogle page (highly recommend) and one of the aps I chose was “Art of the Day”. I keep being reminded of these artists that I learned about in university: Jean-Honore Fragonard, Joy Garnett, J.M.W. Turner. I remember I took Fine Arts with Becky (my sister) when I was at Trinity, and one of our assignments was to go to an art gallery, find a painting, and sit in front of it. I remember us laughing about how ridiculous an assignment it was. We found a gallery downtown Vancouver. It was really, really small. The walls were white. The air was cold. I remember wandering around for a bit, trying to find my painting of choice – you can’t sit in front of just ANY painting for 20 minutes. Then I rounded a corner. There it was. I couldn’t tell you who it was that painted it. But it was bright yellow and orange. You could clearly see the brush strokes. I sat down on the window ledge. I stood in front of it. I stood at an angle. I’d never looked at art like that before. Suddenly that assignment didn’t seem so mundane. I love how much art is about perspective – your own, the artists, the angle. Life is about perspective too! I’m learning this. There’s always a different viewpoint, another approach. Yet another God lesson. Many a lessons to learn when you’re walking in LG’s shoes!

“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle” – Albert Einstein

Things that make you go “hmm”

You can’t help but wonder when...

...someone comes out of the bathroom whistling
...an unsavy individual compliments your outfit
...flames ensue during a routine fire safety regulation seminar
..name brand popcorn pops worse than no-name
...people drink Tim Horton’s coffee instead of Starbucks

My absolutely fabulous co-worker, Julie, makes me smile. These are a couple of thoughts that she ran by me this morning. Can I just say there is nothing like a hilarious statement to start your week off! What a breath of fresh air! So the beginning of this post is a shout out to her!


I love God moments. I love it when he surprises me by encouraging me. Sometimes it’s through other people. Sometimes it’s through things I read. Sometimes it’s just a sense of his presence. I love that.

As you might know, I was supposed to go on a missions trip this past fall to the Ukraine. A series of events occurred, and well, that door closed. And I felt sad. There’s really no other word to describe it. Just sad. I was excited to finally get a chance to serve in a country that needed to see God’s tangible love. I was excited to encourage orphaned kids. I was excited for the opportunity to be used by God. And you can’t help but feel like a failure when something like that falls apart – even if the circumstances are out of your control. So since then, I’ve been looking for opportunities where I am, or for the future. I posted recently about how I was thinking about an addictions program and trying to figure out if that would be a route to take. I have since found something more specific to my interests.

In recent years, I have developed a desire to work with young teen girls who are struggling with eating disorders. I’ve seen firsthand the impact it can have – both on the individual and on the family and friends. I loathe the way our society instills in young girls that they are worth more if they are thinner. I discovered last week that a local college offers a degree upgrade course specifically on eating disorders – treatment plans, nutrition, diagnosis. I couldn’t believe how the specifics of this course are aligned perfectly with my interests. God moment? I think so. The job I’m in right now – I love the organization, I love the people, I even love what I’m doing sometimes (haha)...but administrative stuff is not my passion...people are! And I know God has me where I am for a reason, but having this course brought to my attention was like God was reminding me that he knows about my passions, and that I can still pursue them!

And so, I am. I’ve gathered information. I’ve dusted off old text books. And I’m saving now. Maybe this summer I’ll be able to take it. It’s nice to have something to look forward to. It’s nice to know my future is in God’s hands – and it was SO nice to see a slight glimpse of it! I took a step back - and it looks like I got to see just a little bit more of my mural!

“When it comes to the future, there are three kinds of people: those who let it happen, those who make it happen, and those who wonder what happened” – John M. Richardson, Jr.

PS I’m the kind that makes it happen! God gives you a dream – pursue it with all your heart! :)