Unexpected Blizzards...

Being a Winnipeg girl, born and raised, a blizzard is no novelty. However when you are living in southern BC and it is only the end of November a blizzard comes as quite a surprise. You could tell that even the locals were surprised as I witnessed several of them trying to clear their driveways with a corn-broom.

My Outtatown site is currently staying for its second week at Stillwood Camp and Conference Center. It is a large camp about 45 minutes out of Abbotsford where a van of us drove to this morning to attend church. There is no internet at Stillwood so the fact that I am publishing this should give you some indication as to the severity of this blizzard. We had no hope or inclination of driving back up the mountain as snow was thick on the ground and semis were piled in the ditches all along the highway. But God doesn't abandon His people in times of trouble, and that's exactly what happened in this situation. Here is the full story:

Two vans from our site headed out to their respective church destinations, one to a church 20 minutes away in Yarrow and us to the Free Wind church in Abbotsford, but unfortunately just as we entered the city we found out that the church was closed due to blizzard. Determined to still go to some form of worship service we spotted a church that had another service starting at 11:15. We had about 45 minutes so we hung out at a coffee shop as the snow that had been lightly falling began to pick up intensity. From there we headed to this new church and enjoyed the fellowship and message that they had to offer. My friend Steve particularly had a great time because unbeknownst to him, his uncle attended the church. He left for a lunch date after the service while the most of the rest of us headed to the mall for a quick shopping trip.

After our pocketbooks had been emptied slightly and I had mailed some post we came back to a despondent Dana (our leader). We could not get back to Stillwood. In fact, as an aside, the other van headed by Jonny made it part way back from Yarrow when up the mountain the van could crawl up no longer and they had to leave it on the side of the road and walk the final several Km up the mountain in the deep feet of snow. Hmm, luckily for us Steve's uncle of whom we met on our chance church meeting offered to take us for how ever many days necessary. We did a quick shopping expedition for food and a few other essentials (contact juice and crest brush up...) and tried to make to Steve's relatives. This proved to be MUCH harder said than done.

Not only did many locals not have shovels, but many lacked the winter driving abilities or logic necessary to DRIVE. Quite literally, many attempted large hills with only front wheel drive and many MANY more seriously thought that pressing the accelerator harder meant they would actually go somewhere. They were wrong. We ended up pushing out several cars/vans out (and GENTLY informing hem how to drive). It was fun. What topped it off however was once we had nearly made it to our destination after multiple, multiple detours finding that access for the last 1 or 2Km was nearly impossible so we had to walk, and on our way down there was an ambulance stuck in the ditch. We piled up in the back to give more weight to the back and the ambulance fishtailed sideways for awhile and finally made it out of the ditch, it was ROCKIN'!

So here we are at Steve's uncle and aunt's and here we will stay until further notice. Everything is up in the air and everything is covered in snow and I wouldn't have it any other way. Here is to a week of adventure... I am so glad I bought some mittens at the mall...

CHEERS everyone, and if you are the praying type then I would like to take this time to solicit your prayers on our behalf.

Deep Thoughts

One thing kids like is to be tricked. For instance, I was going to take my little nephew to Disneyland, but instead I drove him to an old burned-out warehouse. "Oh, no," I said. "Disneyland burned down." He cried and cried, but I think that deep down, he thought it was a pretty good joke. I started to drive over to the real Disneyland, but it was getting pretty late.

Fear can sometimes be a useful emotion. For instance, let's say you're an astronaught on the moon and you fear that your partner has been turned into Dracula. The next time he goes out for the moon pieces, wham!, you just slam the door behind him and blast off. He might call you on the radio and say he's not Dracula, but you just say, "Think again, bat man."

Dad always thought laughter was the best medicine, which I guess is why several of us died of tuberculosis.

To me, clowns aren't funny. In fact, they're kind of scary. I've wondered where this started and I think it goes back to the time I went to the circus, and a clown killed my dad.

You know what would make a good story? Something about a clown who make people happy, but inside he's real sad. Also, he has severe diarrhea.

When I was a kid my favorite relative was Uncle Caveman. After school we'd all go play in his cave, and every once in a while he would eat one of us. It wasn't until later that I found out that Uncle Caveman was a bear.

I think a good product would be "Baby Duck Hat". It's a fake baby duck, which you strap on top of your head. Then you go swimming underwater until you find a mommy duck and her babies, and you join them. Then, all of a sudden, you stand up out of the water and roar like Godzilla. Man, those ducks really take off! Also, Baby Duck Hat is good for parties.

A funny thing to do is, if you're out hiking and your friend gets bitten by a poisonous snake, tell him you're going to go for help, then go about ten feet and pretend that *you* got bit by a snake. Then start an argument with him about who's going to go get help. A lot of guys will start crying. That's why it makes you feel good when you tell them it was just a joke.

I remember that one fateful day when Coach took me aside. I knew what was coming. "You don't have to tell me," I said. "I'm off the team, aren't I?" "Well," said Coach, "you never were really ON the team. You made that uniform you're wearing out of rags and towels, and your helmet is a toy space helmet. You show up at practice and then either steal the ball and make us chase you to get it back, or you try to tackle people at inappropriate times." It was all true what he was saying. And yet, I thought something is brewing inside the head of this Coach. He sees something in me, some kind of raw talent that he can mold. But that's when I felt the handcuffs go on.

-Deep Thoughts, by Jack Handy

Things are going well for me here in Victoria. I had a birthday recently and it rocked, and right now I am at the library "doing a research project". The important thing is I survived living near East Hastings last week in Vancouver.

While in Vancouver I got to see Nelly and she gave me a wicked-awesome UBC hoodie (in brown to add to my collection!) and we (Emily, Nelly, Kaite) went for a night on the town on my birthday, which included much nonsense that can only be not reported here. As an aside, but also getting back on topic at the same time (yes, I am in dire need of some more sleep), Kaite purchases many books, like books by Jack Handy. To date she has secured Deep Thoughts, Deeper Thoughts, and Deepest Thoughts. These are excepts from Deep Thoughts, but trust me, they only get......"better".