Guatemala/El Salvador Excursion





On February 20Th, 2010, Jeremiah and I have decided to take off to Central America. We have always been interested in the Spanish language and culture and are looking forward to getting to experience it first hand. Since currently the job market isn't great in Alberta for registered nurses, instead of dwelling on it (though it is stressful) we thought this would be a good opportunity to make this trip as I am not tied to a position, we don't have kids, Jeremiah hasn't begun future studies yet, and we live with my in-laws, who have graciously made it possible for us to go as we can be rent free during our time away, making finances much less burdensome.

Our trip will consist of flying into Guatemala City late on February 20Th. We will then be spending 3-4 weeks in Quetzaltenango or Xela (pronounced Shay-La) studying Spanish at a school called Proyecto Linguistico Quetzalteco. We will study about 5 hours a day with a one-one tutor. The afternoons are spent participating in local activities and there may be some volunteer projects as well to take part in. There are often scheduled activities on the weekends, so we may get to do a bit of tourism in the area as well. We will be doing a home stay the first week and if it goes well will continue to do a home stay for the rest of our study time, as that way we can really fully immerse ourselves in the language and hopefully learn more. If the home stay isn't satisfactory, you can get placed in a new home, or there is a nice hostel across the street.The school has a service where you can have a guide direct you by bus and taxi from Guatemala city to Xela as it is about 4-5 hours away from where we will fly in. The school has recommended some places to stay near the airport that have pick up service as well, so we are deciding on where to stay the first night we arrive in Guatemala. The guide will then meet us the next morning (Sunday) and take us to Xela. We will start orientation and school on the Monday. Here are a couple websites to check out if you are more interested in where we will be going.


http://www.hermandad.com/
http://www.guatemala365.com/index.php?link_school=plqe


Following our time in Guatemala, we are very excited as we will go to see Uncle Brian Rude in El Salvador. We will go there after our study time, so either 3-4 weeks into our trip. With Brian, we will take part in his ministry and are very excited to see his work with the people of El Salvador. There will be commemoration events for Archbishop Oscar Romero going on when we will be there, so we hope to take some of that in. We will also be there for Holy Week and look forward to taking that in, and worshiping in various ways during those celebrations. Perhaps Brian will give us a bit of some touristy excursions as well!

In preparation we are trying to learn as much Spanish as we can to get the most out of the experience. Jeremiah is very dedicated to learning and loves language so he has done very well in his preparation. I like the idea of knowing Spanish, but find myself not as motivated at times, so I have been benefiting from Jeremiah's sometimes forced languages learning sessions at our chalkboard conjugating verbs, or through the ipod vocabulary memorization program.

We ask for your prayers as we embark on this journey. We have never travelled outside of Canada/USA so this will definitely be a new experience for us both. We feel blessed to have the opportunity and are thankful for all your support!

We should have some Internet access, so please do check the blog from time to time as we hope to put some updates on here!

God Bless

imovie


Here is my first attempt at making a mini movie with imovie. For most of this day I was getting very frustrated with imovie. I thought mac's were supposed to be very user friendly that way. I realized though that part of the problem is that I just don't have much patience, especially when it comes to watching tutorial videos. Had I spent more time just watching the tutorials than trying to figure it all out myself, this one minute movie could have taken a lot shorter to complete. As least it filled my day, it is very cold and blizzard like out today so we couldn't leave the house anyway.

Craft Time!

Here is a great video on how to make a simple gift box for smaller gifts as well as a pretty paper bow. It is a great way to add a nice touch to a Christmas gift. I am sure there is a way you could figure it to make the box different sizes. I am just not good at figuring out the math so I just trimmed mine down to make them a bit shorter.

Getting in the Christmas Spirit

Though American Thanksgiving has not yet come and gone, I have still decided that I am in the mood to start my Christmas decorating and that it isn't the end of the world to start this early. I love paper crafting and developing the perfect colour schemes. I love a certain colour called, according to http://www.yaelf.com/colour, turquoise pale. I wasn't sure how to incorporate this colour into the christmas theme but my exprimador (jeremiah and I have been learning spanish lately, and I find that sometimes I am thinking of the spanish word first) also know as citrus juicer has that colour in it and I decided that it will just have to work. After discovering some scrapbook paper with the colour in it as well as the perfect christmas ball ornaments (they were the last box of the perfect colour at Wal-Mart, I just needed a tall man to help me reach them !!) the scheme began to work.

I am excited to eventually get the tree, and get into the advent season and start to really reflect on the true meaning of the season! I hope you are all looking forward to this blessed holiday in your own special ways!

Remember


I have always loved paper crafts, though I don't do them that often, I always love the idea of them. Especially paper flowers. Today I decided I would try and make a paper flower. So I turned to the Martha Stewart website, which always has great things on it to learn and I discovered a video/instructions on making a paper poppy. So I started crafting and realized that my craft was turning into somewhat of a memorial craft. Here are a few pictures of how it turned out and the website I got it from.

Let us all remember those involved during the wars for their loyalty, dedication and sacrifice so that we may be blessed with the freedom we have today. Thank you.











http://www.marthastewart.com/article/giant-paper-poppy-flower-decoration?autonomy_kw=Giant%20Paper%20Poppy

Stooping to New Lows...??

So, as mentioned in an earlier post I had one day decided to humour Jeremiah and play age of empires 3 with him. However, I now I have come to realize that it is now often me asking him to play with me. Does this then mean that I am a true lover of Age? I am kind of afraid so. On one hand I feel somewhat embarrassed about this new love and way to spend some free time, but on the other hand, I wonder in reality is it any different than say watching tv, being on the internet, or other unproductive things like that. I am not so sure. Anyway that is where I am at. Thankfully I learned that 5 out of 5 of my Sorenson cousins in one family all play age, and are on way higher levels then me, meaning they too devote their time at one point or another to the game.

Winter is Officially Here I'm Afraid

Well today it looks like this outside our window:




I can hear wind blowing deck furniture around like crazy above us and we now have to use our space heater. Yes, I think winter is creeping its way on in. I can't say I am a big fan of winter, or the cold. In fact I really get quite frustrated by it. However, I guess there is really no use trying to stop it. I tend to try to wear my sandals as long as possible as if for some reason it'll put a moratorium on the inevitable season ahead, however I think I may consider retiring them for now. Yes instead of resisting, I decided it it best to think about the things I am thankful for about the upcoming season, especially since it is thanksgiving this weekend.

One thing about fall/winter that I love is the spirit of thanksgiving, halloween and especially the advent/christmas season. There is something magical and awe inspiring about the change of colours in nature. I like the eerieness of an outside storm, while being cozy inside with my wonderful husband and a london fog by my side. I like wearing duffle coats, (especially when they were only 50$) and mongolian scarves (thanks Kara). I love being surrounded by family and friends and stuffing myself with turkey and all the fixings. (I will miss your skilled carved Turkey this year Nate). I like digging out the halloween box and decorating. I like making festive cards and crafts. I like a reason to update my chalkboard. I like when Christmas music starts to play in the stores. I like pumpkin pie and carving pumpkins and attempting to make pumpkin seeds that never seem to turn out right, but it is fun anyway.

Now, there are many things I dislike about the upcoming cold season, but I will leave them be. In reality all these things just wouldn't be the same if it was summer all year round.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! Try to find the good in the weather as I will try to do as well. Enjoy family and friends, good food and fellowship.

Theology Books, Hobbies, Chalkboards, LCD Screens, Star Wars, Corn Fever, Age and New Beginnings

Well I have succeeded again at avoiding my blog for endless amounts of days. But to be fair I always do come back. This post will be a mish mash of info and updates and due to this i am going to adopt Sheena's way of doing a nice jot list of it all...

-So we never ended up moving to Vancouver. Many of you may already know this. To me and Jeremiah this is a rather anti-climatic event, bittersweet if you will. House searching in VAN took its toll on us and we thank our good friends for all the support during the multiple trips down broadway in search of the perfect suite. Due to tuition costs and living costs and being unsure of it all, we decided in the end VAN was not for us, not for now. One problem with this decision was that we fully had intended to move and as such, had trucked Jeremiah's theology library across the rockies to the west coast. Not staying resulted in us trucking those books across the border, washington and oregon, which was quite a feat which the Saturn did not prefer. Anways it is with sadness we will not get to experience VAN and all the good people we love there, however it is with hope that we re-evaluate things and stay in Okotoks for awhile.




-Since we didn't have the excitement of moving to a new place, we figured we owed it to ourselves to have something new and exciting for our "new" old place in Okotoks. This resulted in a flat screen T.V. and mac mini. There is just something about commercial goods that sometimes seem to mend a troubled heart. So now Jeremiah and I enjoy both being able to be on the computer at the same time with no squabbles, as well as watching movies on a decent size screen....bye bye macbook for media entertainment purposes. Another addition to our house was a chalkboard which we made together. I have always thought chalkboards ruled and I am excited to now have one!!!! It has already been very useful as you can see in the photo, as we were able to publicly document the recent Star Wars marathon we had, including movies ratings and favorite characters...so definitely very useful :)





-Recently I have been realizing that I don't have a lot of prominent hobbies. I definitely have things I enjoy, but nothing that really seems to be my thing...This was made more evident to me yesterday as Jeremiah was busy with school (he is taking an online course) and I was just lulling about the house, with what seemed like absolutely no idea what to busy myself with. Jeremiah says to me, "why don't you just find something that interests you and do it". Hmmmm good idea, but what do I like to do. That is the question. Feeling a bit bad that I don't seem to have any current hobbies, I up and took a jewelry making class, which resulted in 5 semi-nice pairs of expensive earrings, but also a new skill I guess which was fun.


The Five First Pairs



-Has anyone else realized that sometimes eating just corn and corn type products for a meal is the perfect thing? We like to call it CORN FEVER and definitely recommend it.



-Age of Empires. Heard of it? Well I have, mainly because I know that it is the game that can keep my husband from snuggling me at late hours once in awhile. However this game took on a new meaning last night, as I gave in...and I played it with him. Now this is hard to admit, and though I know I will likely not development a type of addiction to the game I can now see a glimpse of admiration for the game. Cons of playing: Very sore neck, I was terrible and I actually had a full out dream that I was battling all night leading to unrestful sleep. Pros of playing: I can now be included in Jeremiah's love for age. Kind of nice I think.


Ok, that is enough randomness for now. But for those of you that are still faithful to blogging, I am still here and please drop in from time to time.

A Little Motivation from Jamie!

Jeremiah and I have an interesting cooking style. Though we both enjoy cooking fun/cultural/tasty meals, it doesn't seem to happen that often. I think the combination of being busy/lazy in regards to the time it takes to cook and the effort to keep a clean and organized kitchen is somewhat of a deterrence. Jeremiah recently discovered Jamie Oliver's new book Food Revolution, and now there is a new hope for an Overland kitchen revolution. Jamie teaches that you can actually eat nutritional, cheap meals that take little time to prepare. Wow. Sounds great. So we made tasty chilie con carne last night, and are going to try Jamie's spaghetti with simple tomato sauce (with way less salt than store bought sauces). One thing I am excited about is this revolution has motivated me to tackle my spice storage. I have always disliked how my spices are stored...if you need a teaspoon of oregano for example, you try to shove the teaspoon in the small spice shaker with so much force that eventually spices are are all over the counter. I have tried to think of a solution. My brother Josh, has his spices wonderfully arranged in ikea jars, which was my dream, but I was trying to think if there was a cheaper solution. Then I saw an add on kijiji for baby food. The lightbulb came on and I figured these jars would be perfect as a teaspoon fits in (because the baby eats out of a jar)! So I called up the ad people, and found myself meeting up with a random husband man in wal-mart to rid him of his baby food. A very random excursion. But I think it has worked out quite well! Hopefully we will continue to be motivated and mac'n cheese, Mcdonald's and chunky's will be the type of "cooking" that won't happen that often!

Anyone else hate snuggies?? Do you know what I mean, those totally lame awkward monk suits that claim they have the alternative to the already perfected blanket... well then you will like this one. Enjoy

Inspirational Girl

In reading some online news tonight I read about a young teen girl from Southern Alberta who just passed away from a rare aging disorder. Intrigued by the disorder (progeria) and her story I read a bit about her and have been blessed and inspired by a video made by this girl Ashley. Sometimes when life feels/is tough, it is amazing to see what others have been through and the positive outlook they have had on life and the role model they are to others. I hope you can feel blessed and encouraged by this young girl's life and this video.

Where To Go

As many of you are aware, Jeremiah is planning to do a graduate degree in the fall for biblical studies. This is very exciting, however the difficult thing for us right now is figuring out where to move to accomplish this. Just as we think we are narrowing it down, new reasons come up as why to reconsider the other options. Currently the options are Toronto, Vancouver & the newer option of Fergus. By June 1st we should have an answer. So stay tuned for the official posting of where we will go. In the meantime we welcome all prayers as we try to figure out where God is leading us to for our new adventures in life.

Does Spring Even Exist?

So I have been having a somewhat off day today and haven't really been able to pin point down the reasons as to why. However with a bit of thinking I believe a lot of how I feel is reflected directly by the weather we are having here in Calgary/Okotoks. Now my sister-in-law can attest to the fact that there was no snow anymore in our yard today and I was excited about this this morning. The problem is, that we will finally get rid of the snow, get excited about putting on our flip flops and the summer activities that can begin, only to find another massive dump of snow on its way in. It is very frustrating. Lets hope this doesn't last too long...however that is also what we said of the last downfall.

PIctures of The Blooming that was happening and the now back yard..... arg.

Done...!!

After 7 years of post-secondary school (CLBI 1 year, MRC Disability Studies 2 years & Nursing 4 years) I can now say that I have completed my student career. Nursing school has had its challenges, but I believe there has been a divine force at work that has kept me going. I am now done all my requirements to receive my Bachelor's Degree in Nursing which I will get at my graduation on June 5, 2009. I want to thank all of you that have supported me and prayed for me along this journey. I ask that you continue to pray for me as I prepare to write my RN exam and make the transition to being an autonomous nurse. I am very nervous about this and am hoping and praying that I will find my place in the big scary nursing world. Right now I have interest in public health, senior's health, mental health and palliative care and no interest in internal medicine, ER, ICU etc, so we'll see where I will end up. For the summer I will be working a casual position on a senior's rehabilitation unit in Calgary at the Rockyview and also in public health in Okotoks/Black Diamond.

My last couple months in nursing have been a good experience. I had a really great and supportive preceptor in public health in Okotoks/Black Diamond as well as a inspirational faculty mentor. It was a special way to end this program. On the final day of school we were presented with a rose and a certificate to commemorate finishing the final course requirement to graduate! When I got picked up by friend Mel and her sister I was surprised by a unexpected silly string attack, which I cleaned up due to my conscience and apparently my loyalty to Mount Royal College.

So I say farewell to being student nurse and say hello to hospital nurse and rural nurse as the titles of dearly loved Cherry Ames nursing novels would put it.

Funerals

Just last week, Jeremiah's grandfather passed away. A very last minute decision had me joining the family on a 17 hour trek in the Buick leSabre to Minnesota to be there for the funeral.

Though I find funerals very sad, I also seem to enjoy the bonding and fellowship that is created when family comes together. Though I barely knew many of these family members, I felt immediately a part of it all. I am glad I was able to go along, support my husband and in-laws during this time. Also funerals for me, bring me back to the fact that there is meaning to this life and hope for the world to come.

These are pictures that Josh, Jeremiah and I had fun taking near the church, as well as brothers laughing & the beautiful cemetery.