Day 2

This morning, I was very tired when I woke up… mainly because I went to bed after midnight… way too late! This is something I need to work on!

I was rushing around this morning, and only took my multivitamins and green chews.

After I got to work, I then drank a bottle of water and took my other supplements. I began to feel very nauseous, with nothing in my stomach and already being awake for a few hours. The mixture of supplements in my empty stomach were also not a great idea. So I opened up some organic medjool dates and ate away. I forget how many I ate (in the 8-15 range) and felt much better.

I’ve been pretty busy all day and have not been eating as much as I know I should, but at lunch, I ate two organic apricots that I got in my Organic Box yesterday, and 2/3s of a container of organic blackberries that I also got in my Organic Box yesterday. Fresh, juicy, and delicious!

For an afternoon snack, I had a Larabar in the flavour of coconut cream (it’s vegan, no dairy!). It’s basically a blend of nuts, dates and coconuts. Maybe I’m going a little “nutty” today! 🙂

At the end of school, we had a serious mix-up that caused me to not even allow my students to leave for an extra 10 minutes after the final bell. My students are singing for IMPACT 2015 (a huge outreach event, saving souls for Jesus) on the weekend, and our principal ordered shirts for them to wear. However, when she was handing them out, the different shirts got mixed up somehow. The grade 3/4 Choir is singing Saturday morning for church service. The boys are wearing white short-sleeve dress shirts. The grades 5-8 Choir is singing Saturday evening for the evening service and are supposed to be wearing white long-sleeve dress shirts. 11/13 of my boys had short-sleeve, and only 2 had the proper long-sleeve, so I had to go up to grades 3/4 to switch the shirts as they were given ours. Oh what a mix-up! Chaos at the end of school.

After that was finally sorted out, and the kids were sent on their way, I had to quickly clean up my desk, pack up my stuff, and be on my way to meet some people at the mall. I ended up being at the mall for a half hour. And as I was there, meeting the two different people and mailing a package, I was STARVING! I was considering buying something to eat at the mall, but decided I would rush home to my husband who was waiting for me. But then I made a mistake…

My husband is starting a new job on Monday, and I wanted to celebrate with him. Since we were both super hungry, I decided we should celebrate by going out. The problem was, we decided to go to a restaurant we used to have so many fun dates going to. What I didn’t realize was that the vegan options were minimal (their garden salad quality is not that great to me), and so I decided I would just suck it up and have a bit of dairy for the night. I knew I would be paying for this later…

For background knowledge, we were so hungry that we were at the point of feeling sick – a bad place to be when ordering food. We ate deep-fried jalapeño bottle caps, cheese quesadilla, and pancake puppies (deep-fried pancake balls). I had a veggie burger (not bad) with some seasoned fries. My husband had a beef burger with regular fries, chicken strips, and a piece of cheesecake. Now, we did not finish everything, but we did eat a lot. I could tell afterwards I was going to pay for what I ate. I never wanted to touch another piece of deep-fried food again!

We didn’t even go to the gym. Instead, we just spent some time together and went to sleep. We definitely “party” when we celebrate… lol. Neither of us drink or dance, so that’s almost as exciting as it gets for us. 🙂

Let’s Go Celebrate, Come On!!

Did I get that song in your head? It’s ringing in mine!

Today is a big day in our household. After two years of being dependent, my husband started his first Canadian job!! In less than a month of receiving his open work permit, he went for an interview at a plumber’s office, and was hired on the spot! Of course, all his years of plumbing in the states does not transfer over to Canada, so he will be apprenticing. But the good news about that is, the boss is even willing to help him get his journeyman faster by writing to the plumbing board and asking for him to challenge some of the course work! How exciting is that!!

Sometimes it takes A LOT of patience, but God does promise that things will be done in HIS time, not ours. And HIS time for my husband to work has come. *insert little party dance*

Renewed Faith–Pt. 2: Examples in Humanity

I decided to put part two in another blog as the first one became longer than I expected. I hope you all did receive the powerful message I was imparted with that night. So here is reason number two:

2. Outstanding Humanity

At NightVision, it was divided into three sections: The closest to the front was reserved for those who wanted to stand in front of the stage. The middle section was reserved for those who brought beach/lawn chairs to sit on. And the back section was for those who sat in tents or used large umbrellas for shade.

My husband and I were sitting in the middle section as we had brought lawn chairs. We didn’t quite feel like standing for hours as it was very hot, but we hadn’t brought anything for shade either, so we found ourselves quite comfortable (though still hot) in the middle section. 

Beside where we were sitting, on my side, was a large family. A set of parents with three children, and the grandparents. Their two boys were tall, thin, and blond haired. The parents both looked younger than I’m sure they were, thin, and obviously took good care of themselves. But their daughter had been born with mental difficulties. She could walk, although she had to be guided, and was not able to feed herself, nor talk. The family, including the grandparents, took turns caring for her as I’ve seen with many families in this situation. But what really stood out to me, was what the father did for this girl.

I don’t quite remember which band was playing at the time, but he had come to take her somewhere. Normally, it was the washroom. But this time, he had taken her to the standing area in the front section. What this man did, I’ll never forget.

As they stood in the back of the front section group, where there was a little more room, he put her hands around his neck, and began dancing with his daughter. It wasn’t perfect by any means as he had to stop sometimes and wipe her drool or redirect her hands back around his neck, but it was something he did for his daughter who probably doesn’t even get the time of day from others.

It was seriously, a jump in my faith of what humanity can still be like today. I know I’ve heard countless people look at people who were born differently, with incapabilities, and wonder what the point of them being is. I know there a quite a few people who have given up this children for adoption or even aborted these children because they are simply too hard to care for. I know some people consider abortion so that their children will never have to know what it is like to suffer the ridicule and bullying that usually comes with being different, but these parents didn’t, and this dad gave her all that he could to show her that she meant something to him.

I couldn’t believe the difference in this girl’s face while she was dancing with her dad. I know sometimes people and professionals have claimed that people who are born with severe disabilities are basically a “vegetable” and have no idea what’s going on. But this girl did. She knew her daddy loved her, and she knew how much he cared for her, and it clearly showed in her smile and overall brightness when he was dancing with her. Simply incredible.

And it wasn’t the only time he danced with her during the night either. A couple times, he even picked her up to dance closer to the seating area. Now that’s what I call love.

Can you imagine if we were all like that today? If whenever we saw someone who needed help, or who even simply needed a “lift” to their day, we stopped and did that for them? We simply smiled at them, we engaged in a conversation with them, we made them feel like they were important, special and loved? What a difference we could make.

Jesus is our example, and He is LOVE. My favourite Bible verses have always been in 1 Corinthians 13 where there is a HUGE description in great detail of what real love really is. Imagine if we shared LOVE with everyone, maybe there would be so much less hate in the world. Maybe half of the crimes, murders, and horrible unmentionable things that happen to people wouldn’t happen if people know about the kind of LOVE that we were told to share with others. Maybe if we learned to see everyone as equal to ourselves, and actually treat people that way, there would be no “losers” or “outcasts” in our society. We have become so unaccepting of people who are different, people who do not live up to our standards. But what does God even think of our standards? Do you think He would approve of our standards? I can guarantee that He probably doesn’t. God’s eye is on the sparrow, so how much more is His eye on the very people He created to live with Him. We are told we are His special creations, and we need to treat everyone as such.

I challenge you to take a step today: Encourage somebody, brighten their day, do what it takes to spread God’s love today, tomorrow, and every day. And don’t ever forget that you are special to God too. Love yourself and everyone else as He loves us all.