OK, so a year later

ANNND, it's been FOREVER since I sat here and typed anything in here.
I also shouldn't be sitting in here right now. I'm currently escaping "GES INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION EXPO 2005" It is SO HOT outside, and there are SO MANY PEOPLE. It's basically just a big publicity stunt to get people to come and see the school and possibly enroll.
Let me update you a little of what's gone on in my life in the last 3 weeks.
The second week I was back at GES, one of my students stabbed another in the head with a pencil crayon. That was a wonderful event, especially because the mom absolutely went balistic. It was insane, and caused more stress in my life than I ever thought that I could handle. After we thought that the smoke was starting to clear a little, two policemen show up at our school and take us down to the policestation. So myself, the thai teacher, the principal - Conrad, Sue (owner/principal), and another guy all headed down to the police station. The issue had changed and we were unaware of that, so we all spent some time in a full-on arguement, and finally the powers that be all agreed to a meeting of GES and the parents. Unfortunately, the EXPO has completely distracted Sue from this process of making amends with the parents, so the alledged meeting still hasn't happened. If you think about it, pray for resolution.

Also in the last few weeks, we all have spent a good amount of time considering the options for next year, and whether or not we will be at GES for another school term. After much prayer and discussion, I have decided that I will be moving back to Canada next year. In fact, I've been accepted to the UofA in the Faculty of Arts. After completing all my pre-req's for the Faculty of Education, I plan to be a teacher!!

It's hard to believe that a year has gone by since I decided to come back to Thailand for a second year. WOW. The time has flown, and it's been incredible.

Well, I should probably head back to EXPO. I hope you have wonderful day!

r

Tsunami Stories

Alright -- so, it's been over a week since I sat here and wrote anything, and chances are low that I'll actually get anything substantial written down in the next 15 minutes.
I just wanted to take a few sentences and tell you about some of the crazy escapes we had from the tsunami. You might enjoy (?) some of these stories. They just show how much God was taking care of our staff!
Brian and Jordan (gr 6 and k2 respectively) got off of Phi-Phi 30 minutes before the wave hit and demolished the island. They have pictures of the wave coming into Krabi.
Kari (gr3) and her friends got off of Phi-phi with less time to spare than the guys, but they also were safe. They were going to stay another day and go sea-kyaking, but changed their minds at the last minute and took the ferry back instead.
Ken, Melissa and Brianna (teach at NCA across the street) ran with the waves on their heels off of the beach on Koh Lanta. They said that they have some crazy pictures, but I haven't seen any. They are fine.
Deona (k3) and her family were on a boat between Phuket and Phi-phi when the first wave hit. The boat dropped them off at a random island and they were told to run up the mountian (which they did). They stayed up in the hills for 4 hours until the boat came back and they were taken back to the mainland.
Erin (gr5) was flying back from Korea when it happened, and then got on a plane to fly to Phuket. The airport ground staff told her that there was an earthquake in India and that 7 people had died. When she got there, she spent a night in a school (because there was no room for them in the inn) (ha!), and then met up with Jordan, Brian, Kari and Adam. I think she heard about the real situation from Jordan's dad, who phoned her on my cell phone.
Jeannie (gr1) and her family left the beach on the 25th.
Josh, Sarah, Katie and Aaron (JrHigh English, ESL, gr6 and JrHigh Math) were in Malaysia at the time, and didn't hear about the quake for a couple of days.
AAAANNNNDDD - the rest of us were either in Canada/the States for Christmas, or in Laos with Conrad and Becky.

Alright, I've sufficiently used up my 15 minutes. I need to head to class, but I hope you are as encouraged by our narrow escapes as we were.

It's all about the person you're becoming

I found this quote as I was randomly flipping through my old Bible. Someone mentioned it at some camp event or something, and I scribbled it down on a scrap of an old post-it note, and shoved it between a couple of pages between the introduction and the marriage/death page.
The quote has made me think a lot - it IS all about the person you're becoming. The quote rings with passion and excitement to me. God's not too concerned about what pants I wear, but WHO I am. And he loves ms too much to leave me unchanged. Everything happens for a reason, and the things that happen NOW are probably God's way of preparing me for something else in the future.
My thought process ties in with a couple of books that I've been reading recently - one I skim through every 6 months when I'm home, and the author talks about Christianity being something involving passion and excitement. Life is meant to be enjoyed, not suffered through. He talks about his daughter going off and doing crazy things, and her family (grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles) kept telling her to settle down and go to university. The author says that his daughter kept changing countries and jobs and missions until she fell totally, head over heels, in love with Jesus.
I guess I identify with his daughter a little bit. I did when I left, and I still do. There's something that makes me want the excitement and passion of living with abandon. Why not? What's there to lose?
The "getting out of the boat" feeling is similar to walking off of a cliff, and unfortunately , it's quite addictive. If you know that God's going to catch you, why not? What is there to lose?

Life is a process, and I want to enjoy it. There's no place that I could possibly be that God won't catch me. I want to become and be, and sometimes that takes you far away, and sometimes it moves you closer to home. In my case, I'm rather terrified to move home, and THAT just might be the getting out of the boat this time.

It's not about who you are, but who you are changing to be.

Tsunami Thailand

So, the Tsunami hits Thailand, and EVERYONE freaks out. I'm not even kidding.
I had phone calls today from people I didn't even know knew that I was in Thailand - they were checking to make sure that I was ok, and my people were ok, and that this was no where near my school.
Yes, I am ok. I am ok because I am in Canada. My friends are ok, mostly because God saved them from an untimely death. Alright, entirely because God saved them from an untimely death. Now that I know that my friends are safe, now my mind wanders to the other people I know who are affected - the people at church who were going on holidays, family of the Thai staff at school, the STUDENTS who regularly vaccation in those islands....
It seems like one of those things that might possibly get worse before it gets better.
It also seems like one of those things that makes you realize how much other people know about your life! It's neat to know that parents of my highschool friends will call my house, just to make sure that I am safe, and in one piece. I guess it's encouraging to hear from all these people who suddenly make the connection.
So, to end this - thanks if you've phoned (or emailed), I'm fine, and please continue to pray for this event. I have no idea how this is going to affect the school, but it undoubtedly will.

Quoteable Quote

- It's harder to lose all your ducks if you don't put them all in one row. (thanks Kenn)