I have updated my newsletter and partnership pages! The most important info to note is the new address for the Project Funding Office, so please take a look!

Well the last week certainly continued to be a busy one for Bonhomme! I did my best to include him in my visits and other adventures, and if nothing else he was entertaining for me and my friends

But first of all, my sister was successful in photoshopping Bonhomme into our Sunshine ski day, although he must have decided snowboarding was more exciting with someone else hehe…

Tea time – He drank a lot of tea…not only visiting Starbucks but attending an “English” tea time :p There were some addictive cupcakes too…

Tea anyone?

Bonhomme at his first tea party

Shopping – It was also my first foray into a value village store, which can be quite the experience! If you actually take time to look at all the rows and rows of clothes, you can get quite lost And after three hourse of looking around, we finally escaped. But we did chance upon some very classy matching jackets. Therefore, we had to take a picture to commemorate the occasion haha

Stylin' with Bonhomme

Lining up the stripes

Snow Day – The second time I went snowboarding I did not forget Bonhomme in the car. It was a fabulous day for skiing because there were 20cms of fresh snow and not too many people to use up all the powder. Nothing beats the feeling of floating on top of a sea of snow

On the chair with Lisi and John

Meeting a Roughriders fan – I visited some friends, who are quite into the Roughriders and who have acquired quite the collection of fan paraphernalia.  Which I got to admire over the course of the evening, so I had to take advantage of the unique photo opportunity. I’m not sure how many Roughriders fans you will find in the Montreal area

With the garden gnome

Swing Dancing – The theme was party like its 1999, so my classy track jacket from value village fit the part. Unfortunately you can’t really see the rest of my 90s outfit…

Look how 90s we are lol...

Candid Camera

Hanging out with friends – Nothing like spending the evening with a boisterous 10 year-old who immediately takes a liking to you We played lots of games including “Fang den Hut”, drawing pictures on peoples’ backs and Stella-ella-olla…and we practised our French with conversations like: SA: “Bonjou!” Me: “Bonjour!” SA: “Comment ça va?” Me: “Moi, je vais bien, merci. Et toi? Comment vas-tu?” SA:”Comme-ci comme-ça” Me:” Mais pourquoi?” SA:”I don’t know how to say anything more in French” Good times!

The "Annes" - With Kathr"anne", Sarah Anne and Lisi Anne

And here ends the travels of Bonhomme because I am now back in Quebec. Overall it was a great trip; I enjoyed seeing my family and friends and getting in my mountain fix Thanks for all the fun moments for those of you whom I got to see, and thanks for reading!

À la prochaine!

First of all, Happy New Years everyone!!  Bonne année tout le monde!! Here’s my vote that 2012 be a great year

I am happy to report that Bonhomme has gone on several more adventures in the past few days, so here are some photos of his travels And possibly some extra photos for fun haha.

The Cabin – I had the excitement of putting up big shelving units with my Mom and moving all my boxes of belongings onto them…last spring there was a flood, which caused some damage to several of my boxes of books so now they are in a more secure spot.

Outside the cabin

Oolong Tea House – this is the kind of photo where I wish I had some kind of fancy photo editing program lol…flash in the window =

Visit to Bragg Creek area

Visiting Ladd

Elbow Falls!

Hockey Game! I got invited last minute to a game of the world juniors in Calgary, Switzerland vs. Slovakia. I had forgotten how much I enjoy watching hockey games. I decided that my friend and I would be cheering for Switzerland since several of my teammates at YWAM come from Switzerland and I had to be a good representative haha. For the first two periods we had made a good choice as the teams were evenly matched with Switzerland took the lead. Then Slowakia scored three unanswered goals in the third period for a 6-4 win, alas!

Switzerland vs. Slowakia

Faceoff

New Years Party – Of course, Bonhomme is a popular guy so he got invited out for News Years haha… it was a pretty sweet party though and I admit I didn’t get much sleep last night before our ski day

Happy New Year!

Ski day at Sunshine – Unfortunately, Bonhomme didn’t quite make it in my pack for coming up the gondola…But maybe if I ask my sister nicely he can be photoshopped in?? It was a beautiful day with clear sunny skies despite the colder temperatures, and I didn’t entirely forget how to ride a board haha….

Mountains <3

Mt. Assiniboine

And seeing as my family likes to goof around…a nice serious photo to finish off the post Apparently my balaclava suits the part quite well…

Playing the nun

K-country

Taking my inspiration from those many people who travel the globe taking pictures with a special object or a cut-out person as they go from place to place, I have decided to bring the Bonhomme out west and show him some of the beautiful Alberta mountains and snow. I admit, it was not my idea to start with but I figured why not? It makes for some entertaining photos

Herewith begins the adventures of Bonhomme…

At Chester Lake

In the valley by Chester Lake

Snowshoeing...no Bonhomme here, just love the lighting

At Lake Louise

With the Chateau Lake Louise

Admiring the view on the way to Lake Agnes

While the temperatures in Calgary have been less than desirable for winter-y activities, it has been beautiful in the mountains. I hope this is only the beginning of many adventures during my visit to Alberta…To be continued!

Rock paper scissors Quartier Libre style!

I don’t really have too many excuses for my lack of blog presence lately, other than I’ve had other things to do

These past few weeks I have had Quartier Libre activities (our kid’s club) in Joliette and in Manawan, add to that Christmas parties, dance classes, and the addition of a third child to my colleague’s family, whom I have often gone to visit.Last night I was at their house for supper and their oldest son (4 yrs) looks at me and asks if I would like to have a new baby and what I would name him/her….I had to remind him that first I needed to pass through several steps before I would have a baby. To which he responded that he could play with my kids if I liked. What can I say other than I really enjoy spending time with these boys? Earlier in the evening I spent some time with E. and Y. making gingerbread cookies.

Gingerbread Man

I had brought the dough from home and they were more than eager to cut out shapes and decorate their creations…my favourite moment was when Y. wanted to roll out his ball of cookie dough by himself, so he proceeded to dump a whole bunch of flour over his ball and then pat it with the wooden rolling pin. Classic. And the cookies were very popular at dessert

I enjoy having Anne-Rebecca living at the house with me because she brings all her baking ideas from Switzerland. Often she will make bread for us using spelt flour or she will concoct some kind of patisserie which I may or may not be able to eat. The other night she decided to make Zimtsterne (Cinnamon stars), which contain ground hazelnuts and were one of my favourite discoveries when I studied in Germany. Honestly I can start to understand why so many people sign up for the gym after Christmas – there are just so many good things to eat.

Lemon Poppyseed Muffins

One of my other baking experiments this past month was a modified version of lemon poppyseed loaf, except I made it almost entirely flourless (with ground almonds) and I put the batter into muffin tins to give my recipe a greater chance for success And they were very tasty, just very filling! That’s a lot of protein in a muffin…And my other baking experiment was making bread following an online recipe. I am not sure it had the right shape, but it was edible Before Becca leaves in January I shall have to ask her to show me how she makes it normally. Got to take advantage of that Swiss baking talent hehe.

Yes, it's supposed to be bread...

And now I am going home for Christmas where there will surely be cherry almond crisps, homemade eggnog and spanish cream for dessert on Christmas Day. And possibly some other goodies concoted by my lovely sister. Mmm. Good thing that I also have a date with some beautiful snow covered mountains! 

Did I mention that we got about 2-3 cm of snow the other day in Joliette? At any rate, this afternoon it has turned to freezing rain and now I have a nice thick sheet of ice surrounding my car…which I shall have to scrape off tomorrow at 4:30 AM when I leave for the airport :s But it’s worth it because I will soon be home!!

Merry Christmas to you! Joyeux Noël tout le monde!! À la prochaine

with Lydia

When I look at the calendar I have a hard time believing it’s almost the end of November already. Where has the time gone? Certainly the last few weeks have been full of activities…

At the end of October I went to Montreal to visit my friend Lydia and to go dancing. Always a good time and this trip we returned to Jean Talon market, which means taking advantage of the samples and being tempted by all sorts of tasty cheeses, meats, maple syrup concotions, fruits and veggies.

It was squash season and there were pumpkins and rather large squashes on display. I can’t imagine what one might do with such a large vegetable when considering I took five hours to deal with my relatively small pumpkin :p

Giant squash!!

Instead we carried home a huge box of tomatoes for Lydia. Got some weird looks on the metro but made a lot of tomato sauce once we got back to the apartment. On the Sunday I went to Nouvelle Vie in Longueuil and heard Nicky Cruz speak. I had never really heard of him before and I was touched by his story. Just learning how his mother had treated him, the years he spent in the street gangs of New York and then how Jesus met him. It is so incredible how He wants to meet us in the depths of our brokenness and bring us to a place of freedom.  That night I went to the Living Room church and saw my Calgary pastor, which was both a good and bad thing because it brought with it a moment of homesickness…though I am not sure which place is my “home” per se. I am getting more established here in Quebec even if my family and many connections are in the west.

Chez Lydia

I got my first taste of floor barre when I took a workshop the first week in November. The instructor made everyone do their splits, which I haven’t tried to do in a long time :s It was a very technical class and I enjoyed it thoroughly. You think that you have strong core muscles until you start doing exercises on the floor that push your internal muscles and then you realise how much you haven’t been working the right muscles. This workshop made me realize how strong a dancer really can be, and I was inspired to try and find floor barre dvds or movies and to start working on my flexibility again. So far I haven’t found a dvd here, so if anyone has any ideas please let me know

We had a couple of FJ events too in the last few weeks. On the 31st we held a gathering called “Mission:Bénir” where we came together to pray for the spheres of society and to make cards to thank the authorities in the city. I was responsible for preparing the snack, and I discovered something quite dangerous to any diet: sweet and salty popcorn! Completely addictive. Let’s just say that it disappeared quickly Then we ran another Quartier Libre with about 20 kids who came out, and now we have about half of those who want us to come and visit! Even though it’s getting cool out we still plan to run two more programs in December. And then last week I was in Dunham with my teammates to teach, and to organise /run Camp 5.

This year I was particularly moved by Remembrance Day and watching the official ceremony in Ottawa. Just to see all the veterans and to consider how most of the ones who participated in even the second world war are deceased or getting close to that point. And to consider the sacrifice that so many paid so that we could be free in Canada. I was surprised to see that not many people wore poppies around here even though there are a large number of Québécois in the forces these days. I think it is so important we remember.

Lydia and her tomatoes

I also attended a youth gathering called Génération: Unité in Montreal. The event has happened for the last 4-5 years and involves a bunch of youth groups and young adults coming together over a friday and saturday to pray and worship together. And I was so excited because we were praying for Canada, for Québec and for revival. This years speaker felt like the next big revival would happen in Canada and in Quebec. It was amazing to see so many young people on fire for Jesus and who had a desire to see things move in our nation. I wasn’t there the Saturday night but apparently they were singing “Oh Canada” It is definitely on my heart to see healing and reconciliation in Canada in terms of Anglophones and Francophones, east and west. We were created to resemble God in being united in diversity, so I want to believe that one day we might live it out.

Rue St Hubert

In my own life I feel like I am running in circles around certain behaviours or habits, which I don’t like. The time it takes before I find myself back in the same place has become more and more extended, yet I still return. A couple of my teammates are taking a course on spiritual accompaniment and their current session is about the wounds we have from our childhood and how we created certain behaviour patterns to protect ourselves. I have a rather sneaking suspicion that my running in circles has every bit to do with my self-protection mechanisms, and I would love to figure out where the root lies…because it’s tiresome and I’ m sure it’s preventing me from living out my life to it’s fullest. So hopefully with God’s help I can move forward in these things

We still don’t have any snow here, though there were a few snowflakes that fell last week. It’s just cold outside and so I can no longer be in denial about wearing a winter coat. That being said, I cannot really complain since apparently it has been a lot warmer here than in Alberta 

Anyhow I think my post has gotten long enough so I will end here. Thanks for reading!

À la prochaine

I have been thinking lately about the vision for my life. What is God’s call on my life; why did He create me? Since I have been in Quebec for over a year, I need to start considering what is coming after my engagement is finished and even what activities to include in my schedule next year. I have used the original design prayer before, I have been prophecied over and also  received some interesting words from others for me, but at the moment I am wondering how it all fits together… I enjoy the activities and the projects I am involved with in YWAM and I see their value in sharing about Jesus and addressing certain social issues. I am passionate about seeing people and their lives transformed because of Jesus, and I am happy to follow the programs/projects that have been created by others to do so and be a support . At the same time, I wonder about God’s specific purpose for my life. What are the things I love to do? What are the things I am good at? I often have the tendency to stay back and follow what already has been put in place but maybe I am supposed to pioneer something else. I don’t want fear to be the reason that I miss out on my mission, but  I want to partake fully in the adventure that God specifically created me for and to continue to play my part in God’s mission in sharing the gospel.  It’s lots of questions and lots of reflections, and hopefully soon enough a confirmation of direction or re-direction C’est à voir!

Yesterday I finally was able to go out and buy a pumpkin It wasn’t for making a big jack’o'lantern like we did growing up, but to make into tasty creations. This is my first time preparing a pumpkin from scratch and I am grateful for my internet access and the wealth of ‘how to’ websites…of course it was after my internet research that I realized that the smaller pumpkins are actually better for baking -  *whoops*.

Pumpkin marmelade mmm

So I spent about 3.5 hours yesterday evening cutting open the pumpkin, scraping out the seeds and then baking and boiling it to make a lot of pumpkin purée…I also tried out a recipe from Andrée’s mom for making pumpkin marmalade. The recipe does not make a whole lot, but I decided to can it – a whole three cans! :p – and I am happy to report that all three cans sealed on the first go! (Thank you Momma for the good instructions ) I have never done any canning before so I was quite pleased to hear the *snap* of each lid hehe.

We can't forget the muffins...

And of course the pumpkin purée is perfect for making muffins! Which I have tried out a different recipe and slightly modified it to include almond flour…I think I will have to keep adjusting the recipe but that adds to the adventure My oven was being finnicky and stopped working part way through the baking time so the tops are slightly darker than I would have liked…I have faith that they are tasty though!

Tomorrow’s exploits include roasting the pumpkin seeds, which are in the process of drying and making a flourless sugar-free cake, otherwise known as a cake with fruit in it and ground almonds. One of my colleagues had her birthday yesterday and she does not eat much (if any) bread products or sugars. I am hoping the cake will turn out enough so we can at least put a candle on it and sing to her

Sun shining through

 

I admit that I have fallen off the blogging “band wagon” recently, so I am sorry to those of you who check in now and then to find nothing has been posted…I will try to add updates a little more frequently than never

During Thanksgiving weekend this year I went with some friends to Val St-Côme, which is a ski resort in the town  of St-Côme about 45 minutes away from Joliette. The ski hills of Lanaudière are not the same as the mountains of Alberta, but going to the top of this hill did offer some spectacular views of the surrounding area and all the autumn colours.  There is something about the red, orange, yellow and green folliage mixing with the blue of the sky and the sunshine that is so beautiful. Though I have to say that red maples are my favourite

At the hill there was even a company offering helicopter tours at $50, which sounds like a good deal considering the operating costs…but then I timed the trip and each helicopter was gone about 10 minutes, so perhaps a little more expensive than it first seemed :s However, I then considered that I spent $400+ two years ago on the very same weekend to go skydiving, which is a thrill of a few minutes and yet a priceless experience, so I am not really the one to tell others not to take a tour

We were blessed with a weekend of Indian summer and to our pleasant surprise had to leave our coats, sweaters, and mitts in the car because it was so warm! It was a great day to walk around, to admire the colours, to take pictures…and to eat ice cream, which makes pretty much any day better

I think my favourite pictures is the one with the sun shining down through the trees. While a camera doesn’t quite show how it really was, at least there is a glimpse of the play between light and shade and colour.  Hope you enjoy the photos!

 

View of the valley near St-Côme

 

The much awaited next newsletter has been finished In this latest edition I share about the King’s Kids camp “multi-tour 2011″, Quartier Libre and the DNA course.  To take a look please click here or follow the link of my newsletter page.

Happy reading!