The Master Painter

I was grumbling the other day a bit about how I was subbing for a paper route on top of doing my own because I was having to get up half an hour earlier than my usual 5am (that's 4:30am people!). Then one morning I had to put my foot in my mouth because of what I witnessed...

These pictures were taken approximately 5 minutes apart and I realized that if I hadn't been up doing this other paper route I would have missed the beautiful work of the Master Painter our God Almighty! The best part is that these pictures hardly capture the reality. Our God is truly amazing!

I'm a Survivor!

Not as impressive as you might think, but I'm going to tell this short story anyways :).
So I was playing soccer when all of the sudden I got cranked in the face by one of the hardest kickers on our team. I didn't realize what had happened right away but all I knew was that my vision was blurry and my head hurt and I didn't have a substitute. At first I was not sure if I really was ok but I told everyone that I was. I mean...I wasn't totally blind or passing out so I think that means I'm ok :). I played the rest of the game with no peripheral vision in my left eye and I even scored! So all in all, I survived and I am thankful :). 

Out of the Ordinary

This picture was taken a couple of summers ago and the clouds are legit! They really did look like snowballs in the sky (or cotton balls, or popcorn, or whatever your imagination decides). I was thinking wow, isn't God so creative? I feel privileged to know Him personally and sometimes I pretend that He puts really neat clouds or really pretty flowers on the earth just for me :). I know that lots of other people can see and enjoy these things too, but it makes me feel extra special and extra thankful to God in those out of the ordinary moments.

Steinbach Manitoba

I have visited this place every year for the past three years now. Why? Because my amazing sister/friend/roommate from my first year at PRBI lives there. She is a great person overall and I am blessed to have her in my life as she has been a great godly encouragement to me. :)

So to start off, I had to take a selfie because, well, what else does someone do when they have to drive for 6 1/2 hours?

After getting to Ruth's all safe and sound, we began planning out our meals for the weekend because we both love to cook and bake great food (plus, she's Mennonite) :) so borscht was a quick choice for our first supper together, made with real farmer sausage!!

The next day we decided to take a trip to the zoo for the afternoon because animals are awesome! Note the sweet water tunnel we got to travel through...

If my hand were a polar bear's paw...

It's a real live polar bear!!!

I thought that this weather station was kinda funny :)

These camels liked to pose for pictures. The one standing in the background would prance around like a model, pausing for photos every few seconds.

This is what a cat nap really looks like.

Zoos don't really have optimal viewing options for taking photos...but that is a tiger :)

These rules are legit!

This emu was walking towards me as I tried taking a photo of it and I failed to realize that it was not afraid of me until it was about two feet away! That's when I started backing up because these birds are huge!

This is the double-decker bus from London that we got to ride around in for free through the park.

After the zoo, we took a lunch stop at a great restaurant called Kawaii Crepe. This place is amazing, they make these giant crepes and stuff them with delicious things like fruit, peanut butter, nutella, whipped cream, sweetened condensed milk, pizza toppings, salad ingredients, etc. You can either get an entree type or a dessert type crepe and they are all delicious! Plus, an added bonus is the bubble tea :)

After an evening of relaxing while playing Nancy Drew computer games and baking delicious apple-filled raisin bread, we got up the next morning and headed off to the Royal Canadian Mint where they make all of our regular coins plus coins for many other countries as well. I recommend the tour if anyone decides to visit Winnipeg :), it was pretty cool.

One final thing that we did together was bake some maple twists, which were absolutely mouth watering and dangerously addictive. You'll have to ask me for the recipe if you want it because I think it is too risky to post for just anyone to obtain. I mean...just look at the picture! 

As I left for home after almost three days of pure fellowship and absolute blessing from God (I love you Ruth!), I decided that a long afternoon drive called for some added energy. As I have vowed to never drink an actual energy drink, I opted for some bottled Starbucks vanilla frappucino because everyone who knows me well knows that I will only drink coffee if it contains more milk and sugar than coffee. Both were empty when I got home ;) and I got home safely.

I couldn't help but take a picture of the amazing drive-by scenery :).

All in all, I had a great trip and the long drives gave me ample opportunity to almost finish memorizing the book of James! Scripture is truly living and active as I find myself being reminded daily of the goodness and loving grace of our Lord. :) I would gladly challenge others to memorize larger chunks of God's Word as it is refreshing to the soul and it is really cool when the Holy Spirit brings it to mind when you need it. I am so thankful :).