Last post in Spain!

ADIOS SPAIN,

CIAO ITALY!

So Grad was yesterday!! Wow, it was soo emotional! I cannot believe that 10 weeks have passed by and I have been filled so much with the Holy Spirit! He has blessed me so much and I cannot wait to continue experiencing his love at home!!
For dinner they prepared a yummy meal for us consisting of yams,potatoes,chicken,salad and dessert was provided after the ceremony and was chocolate cake and parfait(GREAT comfort food =]).

We ate at 7 and finished at 7:30...this gave us 1 hour to go crazy with our cameras! Soo many pictures were taken and it was pretty loud. Finally it was time for the ceremony to begin at 8:30 pm. The moment we have all been anxiously waiting for!

Order of 'Service'

There were lots of tears and great memories but everyone is excited and happy about what is going to happen in the next few chapters of their lives!!

Marie, My RA!

Joe's 2 youngest kids

The packing is finally done! =[

To re-cap the last week spent at Rio Vida I will just talk about the High-lights!
-Trip of Solitude on monday (5 hours alone in a mountain)
-Fun night on Monday (school's talent show!! I sang our last 2 bible verses with my bible study group...we didn't have them memorized and so while Cindy was on the phone with Joe for a few min we quickly put the verses to a familiar tune!)
-Watching Chariots of Fire on Wednesday. Such an inspirational movie..showing the difference between a life lived for God/glorifying Him through what you do and a life lived for ones self
-Ladies tea time on Wednesday...all the girls went into the basement with our cozy blankets and spent time in prayer for one another!
-Rachel and I spent wednesday night alone in our room having a sleepover! She moved her mattress down to the floor and we fell asleep listening to Dr. Suess =P
-I ate the Last kit kat bar of Rio Vida 2011!! Those things made me gain atleast 10 pounds haha

-Writing a note of wisdom for the Girls that come next year (winter term 2012). It makes me excited thinking that God is at work in other girls lives and will be placing them here to go through the same experience I have gone through! =]

Well, hopefully I can update my blog atleast once in Italy but chances are I will be on the go too much! Heidi and I leave tomorrow at 5 am for the airport and arrive in Venice around 9:45 am.

KEEP THE PRAYERS COMING FOR SAFETY!
=]

P.S. I arrive home on April 5th =] CAN'T WAIT!

Graduation!

So tomorrow is Grad!! wow, 2 grads in 10 months!?!?! Amazing =]

I just want to give a few shout outs to people who have been a HUGE encouragement to me while being here!

PARENTS
-Thank you so much for helping me out with my portfolio,emotional days,and italy travel details!! You have kept me thinking positively and have made me feel 'comfy' with being away from home!! I LOVED all the updates of weather,chloe,siblings,etc. You have given me soo many words of encouragement and wisdom and I thank you sooo much for that! My love for you both has grown soo strong. can't wait to see you!

DOUG
-You have helped me with my prayer walk so much,getting me to pray often when I just wanted to focus on my negative emotions. You always gave me the push to stay focused in lectures and what God has been teaching me. Thank you so much for your patience and positive encouragement! Also, thanks for the chocolate and Chai Tea!!!!! =] =] LOVED IT!

TEEN CHALLENGE (Doug, pass this on to them please =] )
-All of your prayers have truly carried me through these past 10 weeks. I have such a strong support team!! Thank you so much for your dedication and kind hearts. God is truly using you to be a shining light into other people's lives (especially mine!). Your drive for God has really motivated me to follow in your footsteps.

THE NIELSENS
-I LOVED getting all the cards and pictures from the kids and all the emails updating me about how they include me in their prayers and how much they miss me! I love hearing about events going on in your life while I am away and just the positive comments on how much I have impacted you!! It really motivates me to keep on being who I am and just connecting more with God in hopes that I can continue to make a great impact!

RIO VIDA STUDENTS
-You all got me through working on my portfolio! You gave me so much positive advice and encouragement!
You were all so open and honest with me and also created a safe atmosphere to share my feelings. You were all soo accepting of everyone's differences making it comfy to be here for the past 10 weeks! I love you all!


EVERYONE ELSE
-Reading my blog has encouraged me to keep on blogging! haha I never realized how important it is that I keep up with blogging because not only does it let you get involved with what I am up to but I can also look back and see how much I have grown! So thanks for spending time out of your day to follow along!
-Thank you for all the letters/mail!! Really makes me feel like no one has forgotten about me back in Canada (and England..Angus =P) haha.

MISS YOU ALL! SEE YOU SOON!

LIGHTHOUSE!

So today we spent 3 hours on an adventure to the Lighthouse!! I used the roller blades and Rachel K used the bike! First we went to the mercadona to withdraw cash and then we were off! On our way down to the beach we were f lying down the road and this bus refused to move out of the way and decided that he would pass us as close as he could while honking....SO SCARY! haha
Finally we got down to the boardwalk and i discovered that since the wheels on my rollerblades are plastic, they slide against the tile. Not good! So most of the time I was hanging onto the back of the bike while Rachel peddaled =P (I did do SOME blading and ended up running the last 15 min at the end back to school). It was soo much fun!! crazy windy and we were getting pelted by sand (ended up coming back with a coating of sand on our face =P ) but the waves were amazing and we saw lots of wind surfers! Such a great way to spend a day and I really wanted to see the lighthouse before leaving!!

What I miss...

THE SNOW!

STARBUCKS: CHAI TEA LATTE

MY CRAFT SUPPLIES!

SLURPEES

TIMMIES !!!

SHEPHARDS PIE

MAC AND CHEESE

-MY FAM JAM
-CHLOE
-THE NIELSENS!!!
-MY OWN BED/BEDROOM
-PERSONAL HYGIENE
-DRIVING
-COW TOWN!

 

5 hrs of SOLITUDE

So today I spent from 1pm-6pm alone on top of a mountain! Man, it was a growing experience!

First of all I am so proud of myself for how adventurous I was! Climbing up BIG rocks, forcing my way through bushes, scaling steep hills! WOW! haha Anyways, the rough climb was worth it...found a spot with the best view ever! (I will have to upload pics soon). I perched myself up on this rock over looking the Mediterranian which was lined by a little city of colorful houses! I sat up there for 3 hours and attempted to paint with watercolors but then it got pretty windy. Then I attempted to write letters to people but it was getting chilly! I used my wildlife skills and made my way down half the mountain because I figured it wouldn't be as cold there. Was I right! I sat there for 1.5 hrs finishing off some letters, praying, and reading LOTS of scripture. I felt so connected with God!
Dealing with my thoughts for the first hour was pretty tough...I can never clear my mind! haha I realized how my mind is always wanting to stay busy by forming to-do lists and thinking about what I will do within the next few days. I need to work on slowing down my brain!
I have decided that I will do this once every month...find a secluded area somewhere and just dedicate 5 hours to God. Hold me accountable!

Once 6 pm came we all met up and made our way to Joe's place for a bonfire and BBQ. Oh I forgot to mention we had to fast during lunch but i decided to fast during breakfast as well and so I ended up having 2 huge burgers, lots of salad and ice cream!

It was a good last monday in Spain =]

Re-Cap!

So the lack in blog entries has been bumming me out!!
Unfortunately, my first abstract attempt wasn't quite exactly how it was suppose to be and so I have been stressing/praying and trying to make a new plan of action!! I managed to come up with something that is
way better than the first (better as in more abstract and following the principles of Design =] ).
Here it is! :

I am really happy with it! =]

Anways, RE-CAP TIME!

Thurs:
-Went back to the hospital! Apparently I had to pay for my trip(xray) in person and then submit the receipts
when I get home so I owed the Hospital of Alicante 126 Euros! Brutal eh? Well we also took one of the other students with us who climbed onto the roof to get a ball and fell off,broke his elbow!! So Joe and I had a great talk while waiting for 2 hrs for the other student to get checked out(getting a surgery tomorrow!!). He is such a great director!!
-This past week we talked about : The Basic Christian Doctrine, The church history, The Bible and the Future, and world religion. This week wasn't my favorite...had the same speaker for every lecture so it got a bit boring after a while. Also, with my portfolio it was hard to focus! The speakers name is John Allan..he is Einstein! Graduated from Harvard ...has written atleast 20 books haha and he was born in Scotland but now resides in England.
-Oh and the 'stats' of bible reading so far is : 20 books read, 301 chapters read, and 7056 verses read (yes, I did spend a whole lecture counting how many verses I have read haha)
-My suitcase is half packed and my backpack is filled with gifts and goodies I have gotten while being here!! It is uber light so I am positive it will pass as my carry on =] Not too sure about the weight of my suitcase though! The plan of action is to wear LOTS of layers and take them off once I have checked my baggage in haha I have learned that I quite enjoy packing..especially a week before I actually need to =P

Fri:
-We had lots of free time today and so I went with Rachel B. to the Port! I loved seeing all the boats...makes me want to own one! and also there were a lot of little shops,statues and fountains. We also ventured off in some side streets and came across a convent,roman ruins,city hall and lots of cute plazas/architecture!! Sooo pretty and it was a beautiful day!

-It was also out last Family night!! Our 'Dad', Joe, picked up my family group and we headed to a mini art convention that was being put on by a school (their neighbour was in it). I loved it!! I am for sure going home, getting myself a good paint set, and painting soo many pictures that I took in Spain!! =] So inspiring!
After that we headed out for dinner (at 9:30 pm!) at a Chinese Restaurant (BOOH YEA!). I got veggie Chow-mein....the most intense food that was ordered was Shark Fin soup =P. It was a blast! But it was a reminder that there will be many 'lasts' this coming week =[ Bitter Sweet.

Sat:
-HOME ALONE! So everyone went out to Alicante or a little town called Altea (turns out it was really boring...Guadalest was better) and I stayed back and worked on my Portfolio (I figured the trip to the Port was a good enough adventure for me!) and had the house to myself. It was pretty sketchy at first since I had a mini lecture on how to keep everything locked and what numbers to call, etc. This made me uber paranoid and the house made LOTS of funny noises! After a while I got use to it and enjoyed the lack of company. I did a few loads of laundry,researched for my abstract project, listened to music, layed in the sun for an hour and took the opportunity to make a Video tour of the school (explaining everything!) for my Fam Jam to see!
(and anyone else if they ask =] ). It was very refreshing and relaxing!

Sun:
-Sunrise service! We all got up at 6:30 AM , loaded on the layers of clothing, grabbed chairs and trekked down to the beach. It was pretty dark but the water was sooo calm =]. We sang lots of worship songs, prayed a lot and Joe's son,Joshua, lead the service because Joe's father passed away a few days ago and so he had to fly to the states for the funeral. As Joshua was speaking the sun slowly started to rise and it was sooo pretty!! I think all church services should be held out in God's creation =]

We got back to the school around 7:30 and I went back to bed till 11!! I was soo tired =P I finished off my abstract and then layed in the Sun ALL day!! SO BEAUTIFUL!
-All the girls gathered around a few hours before dinner and did some Henna!! Rachel K. bought some when we were in Granada and so everyone was drawing designs on arms and feet. Great bonding moment! haha
-Tonight is our last fellowship night! It is in the girls terrace and it involves music and candles...wonder what we are doing!

Well Hope everyone had a great weekend and I will be home in a few weeks!!
*KEEP SOME SNOW FOR ME!!!*

I am soo excited for...
-Timmies (French Vanilla and donuts!!)
-Starbucks (Chai Tea Latte!)
-Mongolie Grill
-Seeing my family!!!
-Seeing my Puppy =]
-Being able to sleep whenever I want without being woken up by 4 other girls haha
-getting my personal hygeine back!
-Putting to practice everything I have learned
-Getting my feet on the Path God wants to lead me on!
-My first summer at home in many years

SO MUCH MORE!!

So this weeks schedual is interesting. Since Joe isn't here to lead the lectures we are only having 2 on thursday when he gets back.
Monday: a solitude trip to the mountains...spend 5 hrs there by ourselves writing a letter to ourself that gets mailed to us in Sept (so we can look back on the goals we have set and see how well we have done!)
Tuesday: Trip to the market in El Campello
Wednesday: Go-karting!! it is pretty expensive though so not sure if I will go
Thursday: 2 lectures and our GRAD!!!! =] =] wow I am going to cry! haha
Friday: saying bye to some people!
Sat: off to Italy at 7:15 am !!!!

Final last week, here I come =]

Assignment Two...Finito!

My abstract composition!! Had to take the paragraph given and then interpret it! Can anyone see what it is!?
(Angus, don't answer this haha)

Scavengers!

Today was the last outreach for Sunday services! We went to a church (the biggest one yet!) in Benidorm...a city 45 min away. It had a wicked worship team!! So much fun =]

Also, the fellowship night was a blast! We did a photo scavenger hunt...50 pics under 60 minutes! It included singing to a runner on the boardwalk, acting out a scene from the Bible, reading the Bible in a bar, burying someone in the sand up to their neck, go into the Med!, dumpster diving, and soooo much more!

So I am finished assignment 1 of my portfolio! HALLELUJAH! =P God is good! Now onto assignment 2 which will be tricky =P keep the prayers coming please.

I wish that your monday is a splendid start to your week!
MISS YOU ALL!

Home in 4 weeks

Jelly Wars!

JELLY FISH WARS!

To my delight I got to enjoy being a spectator of
a funny sight! I have been working on my
portfolio all morning and all of a sudden i heard
lots of screaming. Apparently during the wind storm
the water washed up a BUNCH of jellyfish onto the beach so
lots of the students went down and brought some back thinking
it would be a blast to throw them at each other =P.
Poor jellyfish! I hope they were dead!

I have never witnessed this in my life and probably will
never witness it again! haha

1 min sketch

1 min sketch

5 min sketch

5 min sketch

update on portfolio:
We had a LOVELY brunch again this morning (at 11:30 am) and right after I attacked my portfolio once again! I finished the initial drawing last night and so I worked on the 1 minute sketch and the 5 minute sketch. NOT A FAN! I hate drawing with out detail =P I feel like a little kid could do the same quality of work looking at the finished products (posted above). OH WELL! I just have to accept that I will never be happy with quick sketches =P

God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but SHOUTS in our pains; it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.

-C.S. Lewis

Photo Update

PAELLA!!! A yummy & huge dish Dora
makes for us! Lots of seafood are involved but
I just pick it out =P Not a fan of the shrimp
with their eyes and legs still attached!!

Bull fighting Ring that we passed
on our adventure to finding the market place

In the middle of their 'Round-a-bouts" there are
always fancy statues or fountains! So pretty!
Canada should adapt this =]

inside shot of the bull fighting ring..
smelt pretty bad lol

THE MARKET! Took us 2 hours to find it.

there were a TON of stalls set up at the Mercadillo
market. Very cheap prices! Didn't end up buying anything
since I am now very wise with my money =P

My FAVORITE jewellery store! It is in the mall "Plaza Marq".
Floor to ceiling, covered in jewellery!

some of the students adopted some Hermit crabs
as our school pet! (the white stuff you see are bits of
pancakes..someone thought that they would eat it!
WRONG!) haha it was hard to tell if they were still
alive or not..someone eventually put them back on
the beach.

LEADING CHURCH!
"Accepted through Christ!" ..we did a skit called
'Cardboard Testimonies'. This is the sign I held. On the
other side it said, searching acceptance from others.

Reading Ephesians 1:4...Rachel B. translated it for me =P

'Cardboard Testimonies' skit

After church we came back to find a special lunch!
A lady from the church made us a moraccan(sp?)
dish. Mashed up corn with eggs,beed,chicken and olives.
It was actually pretty good!!

finished product!

almost done!

Done picture one of my first assignment!!! I have to draw a still life composition of 5 objects (one had to be transparent...perfume bottle...one had to be reflective...sunglasses...one had to be texture...pinecone or shell...and then i could choose 2 other objects). Now I have to draw this again under one minute...then under 5 minutes..then under 15 minutes..then under an hour!! Wow I have missed drawing sooo much!

So far so good! =] Praise the Lord!

I got some more mail today from the Nielsen kids!! Oh how I love them!! They all made pictures for me and wrote little notes. It is all up on my 'wall of fame' (as well as the other mail I have received).

March 4th

So I found this 'blog entry' saved in my documents (sometimes the internet isn't working so I type up my entry as a document first =P) but I forgot to post it last week! I guess it will just have to be out of order! =P

This week has been so hectic!! Barely any free time.
Here is a recap of my week:

-fireworks: So one night we were all sitting in the fireside room and all of a sudden someone comes running in yelling fireworks and then ran back out. We all looked around at each other and a minute of silence later we all booked it out and saw the last 5 minutes of fireworks on the other side of the mountain. Pretty cool =]
-On Tuesday we had a ladies tea time. Kim, one of the students here who graduated from fashion, lead a 'what to wear' session haha it was awesome. She related it to the Bible, told us our body types and coloring! I am an hourglass and my coloring is 'light'. It was good but we didn't have any free time that day because of it.
-I have noticed that the amount of chocolate consumed here in Spain is CRAZY! All the girls here are constantly craving it haha and we all make trips to Mercadona to buy unique chocolate bars. It is pretty cheap here!

-This week was no make up week!! Monday I didn't wear any, Tuesday I didn't wear any AND I wore my hair naturally down, Wednesday I wore mascara just for a mid week 'pick me up', Thursday nothing and today nothing!! I have learned to be a lot more comfortable with myself =] I love it!

-Work day on Wednesday: I learned how to mow a lawn for my first time! (Dad aren't you proud!?). The lawn consists of 10% grass, 30% pebbles, 20% weeds and 40% Dirt! Haha It was a battle ground...rocks flying everywhere! After that I washed the van with Amy and Emily. It was soo gross inside haha the floors were SO dirty! Apparently the last time it was cleaned was a year ago? We ended up having a mini water fight after with some of the other students. I got soaked! It was a blast though!
-So lately I have found that whenever I don't have my Bible on me I feel like I am always forgetting something! It is neat to see how dependant I have become on the Bible =] Hopefully when I get home I'll be more worried about having it with me instead of worrying if I have my cell with me!

I have a HUGE list of books I want to buy, borrow or take out from the Library (if you have any of these please let me know! =] ):

*Victory over the Darkenss – Neil T. Anderson
*Who I am in Christ – Neil T. Anderson
*Inside out – Dr. Larry Crabb
*The pressure's off – Dr. Larry Crabb
*Moving through your problems toward finding God – Dr. Larry Crabb
*Classic Christianity – Bob George
*Dinner with a perfect stranger – David Gregory
*A day with a perfect stranger – David Gregory
*Wisdom Hunter – Randall Arthur
*She who laughs, lasts – Ann Spangler

I have atleast 15 more..don't have the list on me right now =P I am excited for all this reading and gaining new knowledge! Wish me Luck!

Hope you all have a restful and blessed weekend!