Cough.

One of the most exciting things happening in my life right now is this:
The past couple of days I've had a really bad cold. It's inevitable when I travel. So in the middle of the night I'll just be hackin' away (sorry to all my roomies). And so, this morning, I'm standing in the washroom, I cough once. I cough twice. And on the third time, something snaps inside of my upper left ribcage. All I could think was, "OWWW." And this pulled-muscle pain erupts in me like a volcano.
Walking hurts. Talking hurts. Breathing hurts. Eating hurts. Biking hurts. Sitting hurts. Vacuuming hurts. (in case you didn't know, my work duty is to vacuum the dining hall 3 times a day) Coughing hurts. (and this could be a problem, since I have a cold, and I can't stop myself from coughing. Ugh.)
So this morning after it first happened it was so bad. After breakfast I vacuumed, which hurt so bad, then I just lay in my bed for half an hour until lecture, in intense pain. And then I sat in lecture in intense pain. And during lecture, I tried to cough, and it hurt so bad that it didn't come out as a coughing sound at all, it was SO embarrassing.
And yeah, that is my life right now. Thank goodness for pain-killers.

Human Beings.

So, let's just say there is life on Mars. And these...Martians...these inhabitants of Mars, just heard rumour that there are humans on this planet next door called Earth. The Martians are not only excited because human beings actually exist, they're excited because they heard that these human beings are made in the image of God. See, Martians don't know anything about God. They've heard of his name and his power, but they haven't heard details; they're desperate to know what he's like and if he really could, be the Saviour of this world. And seeing human beings is their only opportunity to know who God really is.
So, a few of these Martians set out on their UFO and head on over to planet Earth, in the hopes of running into these human beings who are made in the image of God. Their UFO lands in a city called Watts, Los Angeles. The Martians step out from their spaceship and begin scrounging the area for humans. Then finally, they find one, a human being. It's lying helpless against a brick wall on the cold pavement, surrounded by its own excrement. This human being is drenched in alcohol and drugs. Confused at this mess they see, the Martians keep looking for another human being.
They come across a TV in a strore-front's window. On this television is a news report of a human being in Baghdad, a terrorist who killed 70 other human beings, along with himself. With their confusion growing, the Martians continue their search. Down the street, they enter one of the buildings to find it filled with women who are hurting. The Martians ask, "why are these human-being women so bruised and broken? Who did this to them?" They're then told that this is a home for women who have been abused by their husbands and who needed a place to run to, so that they can be safe.
When the Martians return back to Mars, they shuffle hesitantly off the spaceship and the inhabitants of Mars are all waiting to hear the news. "What is God like?" "What does he look like?" "He must be so good; so amazing!"
Slowly, the Martians reply..."God is intoxicated of disgusting substances, God is a person who commits terrorist acts and kills innocent human beings, God is a man who beats his wife..."
This is why God created Christians. We were put on this earth so that if someone were in search of human beings in hopes to see God's character through us, they would see who God really is. They would see that God is the opposite of sin; God is love.

I rephrased this story from what I heard in our lecture last night, and I just decided to share it with you. Let's just say, it made me think.

Cherrrmany.

So, here I am. And in case ya’ll didn’t know where here is, here is Germany. Exactly a week ago I packed my bags, hopped on a plane, and moved into my new home. I’m attending a bible college located in the southern region, along the border of Austria and Switzerland. I mean, I can literally see Switzerland, it’s right across the lake! I can almost taste its…Swiss-ness.
Anyway, when I arrived at this bible college, I was expecting there to be like thirty students at the most, and there was. Half of us rode our bikes into town and just explored the area (as if I hadn’t done that already). And suddenly when we came back for supper that evening, there were 108 of us in total. ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHT. I was expecting small, not huuuge. But…I guess compared to the last university I attended, population 4000, this is quite small. It’s small, but not as intimate as I was expecting. Then again, it’s only been three days. Speaking of which, these three days, feel like months. I’m not in total shock though. To bring up my university days again, I remember feeling this way last year; I felt as if I had known my friends there for years, when we had only spent a few days together. And right now, I feel like I’ve been here for months, and I’ve been best friends with these people my whole life.
What's crazy is that when I went on facebook the other day, I was expecting for EVERYTHING to be different, because like I said, I thought that months had gone by. I thought half my friends were gonna be in relationships, some were gonna be graduated from school, and others were suddenly gonna have long hair in their pictures. So when I went on, I realized that only a few days had passed, and nothing was different. Weird, I know.
And wow, there are so many names to remember and so many faces to place. You have to constantly remind yourself not to take it personally if somebody doesn’t remember your name or where you’re from, since we’re all ridin’ on the same boat here. Believe it or not, there aren't any other Jennifers here! This is great, considering my name was like one of the top baby names of the 1990's.
Last Saturday and Sunday night, a bunch of students were able to share their testimonies, and Wow... I've never seen so many grown men cry. Everyone has such beautifully tragic stories to tell, and God has worked miraculously in their lives, and you can tell that he still is. I know that my time to share my testimony will be in a week or two, I can just feel it. But I'm not really scared to do so. (I know that when the time comes, my heart will be beating straight outta my chest, but whatever).
Man, there are so many interesting people here!! Sorry about this random post, everything is just out of order and unorganized. It's only because I'm so excited. It's also because internet is only available to us in one room of the building, and seriously, I'm never on my laptop anymore. Why would I be on my laptop when I could be jumping into freezing cold lakes? Or eating extremely crazy amounts of glorious German food? Or waking up at 6 AM to participate in aerobics? Or biking to town? Or visiting castles? Or hiking mountains? Or or or or or...the list goes on. Haha. So, since internet is scarce here, I've realized that I'm gonna have to pre-write all of my blog entries before bed (somehow...) and then post them super quickly the next day or so and try not to waste any precious time. I love blogging so much, and that's the last thing I want to give up. Oh and since everyone here uses skype, the internet is SO slow, making posting pictures utterly IMPOSSIBLE. It also makes skyping a little awkward, since everything you say is in a public room, and everyone looks like one big pixel. Haha.
Oh, and did I mention I'm sharing a room with 9 other girls? Yes, this is true. But it's awesome. I love sharing rooms, I've never had a problem with it. I used to wish I had a twin sister I could share a room with. Okay...enough rambling. This is honestly the most elementary sounding blog entry I've ever written.
I just wanted to let ya'll know that I'm still alive and loving life!!
Thanks for all your prayers!

The Jet's a Laggin'

I don't understand it. I slept so well my first night here. I mean, 14 hours, does it get any better than that? And then, there's tonight; I just can't sleep for the life of me. It's almost 2 AM and I'm wide awake. Maybe I shouldn't have eaten chocolate before bed--yeah, that would do it, that delicious stuff is loaded with energy. I've tried everything from counting my blessings like sheep hoppin' over that non-proverbial picket fence, watching lame German TV for about two seconds before realizing I can't understand a thing, reading a book, organizing my photos from today, listening to David Nail on repeat, showering, drinking bottled Evian water, watching an episode of Gilmore Girls...nothing works. I've often wondered what the lake looks like at night, maybe I should...nah. I may be adventurous, but I'm not stupid. So I then decided that a blog is in order.
Today was a fun day. I woke up this morning not having a CLUE of what I was going to do. I literally walked out the door with my feet leading me along. I can't even describe how cool it is to travel by yourself. It's as if you're on nobody's schedule but your own...or God's, but you know what I mean. You can do whatever you want; leave when you want, eat what you want, act how you want...it's really all up to you.
With my feet pulling me along, I explored the residential streets of the city and also walked the lake once again. On impulse, I bought a ticket for the Katamaran, which is a large boat, to sail me across Lake Bodensee to the city of Konstanz. With a few minutes to kill before my boat left, I climbed the 115-step Friedrichshafen look-out tower. Boy, I'm seriously outta shape. My legs are actually sore right now; how sad is that?

Konstanz was interesting. This was my second time there; my first time being five years ago. And once again, my geographical memory never fails me. I remember exactly where everything was! After walking the streets and soaking up all of the extraordinary architecture, I decided there was only one thing left to do: McDonalds. And it was sure excellent. Personally, I gave it a 9/10, only because the McChicken sauce had a different taste to it. I would have given it as low as an 8/10 had they not LOADED the McChicken burger with fresh, uber green lettuce! Mmm... Oh, and I always forget that their idea of water is sparkling mineral water, so I'm inevitably a little surprised everytime I take a sip.

After that life changing McDonalds experience, I decided to walk some more, you know, burn off some of those calories. In front of me I see a crowd, and I hear a man yelling, so I look to find a magician/entertainer guy speaking both German and English in mixed sentences. He seemed pretty funny, so I decided to watch. Suddenly, he spots me and takes my right arm, everyone watching, and holding it high in the air with my index finger pointed to the sky. "Hold it like that for awhile." He says.
He walks away and starts telling jokes and introducing himself to the crowd, and a few minutes later he says, "so, any volunteers?" Immediately I understand what just happened and my arm bolted down to my side. "Nooooo..." I say.
But alas, I'm pulled into the centre of the stage, and of course, the number of people in the crowd increases. He asks for my name,
"Jenni."
"Jenni! Where are you from?"
"Canada."
"WOW. Where in Canada?"
Replying with heavy hesitance, because there's no way he's ever heard of this place "...Manitoba..."
"Manitoba! No way!!!"
I nod, laughing.
"I actually have no idea where that is..." (crowd practically dies laughing)
So for the rest of the hour I was known as "Jenni from Manitoba, Canada!"
After soaking three torches in nitro-glycerin, he lights them on fire and makes me hold them. Now, I'm actually extremely terrified of fire. I thought my hair was going to light up. Cringing the whole time, he instructed me on my job, "throw one torch at his left hand, the second at his right hand, and the third at his chest." Ohh crap...the last thing I wanna do before school starts is ignite somebody and kill them. Oh, and did I mention we played this game of catch while he was riding a unicycle? Geez! It was pretty awesome; and for being his "volunteer" I made 5 euros in the process, also known as $7 Canadian, and a little girl gave me her Kinder-schokolade! "danke schon!!" I thanked her.

After, I went to H&M and went a little crazy once again. I love that store! My second favorite part of the day (the first being me throwing torches in Konstanz), was my boat ride back to Friedrichshafen. As soon as I sit down on the Katamaran, I pull out my iPod and turn it to "Strangers on a Train". Suddenly this...good looking, really good looking, guy sits down right across from me. And if you knew the lyrics to that song, Strangers on a Train, you'd understand why all I could think was, "oh my goodness, am I in a music video?!" Yes, it was a wonderful trip back.

When I got back to Friedrichshafen, I went to the market and bought myself two North American products. I'm in Germany and I buy such things, super lame, I know. But hey, mini Bounty-bites and 1.5L of Evian still-water is a good investment.

I'm finally starting to feel tired. This is good news. I'm gonna take advantage of this fatigue and hit the hay. Guten Nacht! (Good Night)

Germany!

Alright. Here we are again. Jennifer runs off on yet another adventure and apparently you're interested enough to sit in front of the computer to read about it.
I'm gonna have to admit right now, that this has been the smoothest, most organized trip I've ever been on, and I'm BY MYSELF. Even when I'm traveling in groups like with my friends, my siblings, or my parents, things don't go this smoothly. Maybe I was just meant to do this. Somebody please tell me I was meant to do this! You know I wouldn't argue with you! I'm also going to have to admit that it's really hard for me to sit down and blog about this, because I just want to go outside and run around!! I cringe at the thought of me sitting on my laptop when I could be out there on the German streets causin' some trouble instead. As long as I remind myself that I still have two whole days here to kill, on my own.
Let me start from the beginning. Last Sunday was my last full day at home, and it was definitely a full day. I went to church one last time, I drove with my family to drop my newly engaged sister off at the airport, I had a little farewell dinner with some friends at DQ, and then I went to a mini-family gathering weiner-roast. All in all, it was a wonderful day full of wonderful people and wonderful goodbyes and wonderful packing-procrastination. I tried packing that night, but the last two episodes of Gilmore Girls deemed more important to me.
On Monday after getting a little over six hours of sleep, I woke up at 7 AM to finish packing. And I did pretty successfully. But seriously, am I the only person on this planet who finishes everything last minute? Like who packs three months worth of clothes a few hours before they leave for the airport? Who does that?!
After I finished packing my Virginian sister and her family called, and we talked for over an hour! It was awesome. I even got to ask Alora "what does a cow say?!". :)
We had to leave for the airport a few hours earlier, so that I could go on stand-by for Executive class. The goodbyes were easy. Well, compared to last year when I moved to BC, they were easy. It's crazy though. Me moving a few provinces away to BC was a WAY bigger deal than me moving across the ATLANTIC OCEAN to Germany. Last time I was so nervous. Remember how I couldn't eat like weeks before? Well, food definitely isn't an issue this time around. And speaking of food, my first-class standby was accomplished. Oh my goodness. As soon as you sit down in your big comfy seat they give you a tiny glass dish of roasted almonds and cashews, a glass of champagne, and a menu. Who knew they gave menu's on airplanes?! After my gourmet mushroom-stuffed chicken meal, I was feelin' good. And I thought it'd be another 3 hours to Montreal at least. Boy, was I wrong! I didn't even get to finish my movie! All this first-class business sure makes time fly.

So when I got to Montreal, I left the terminal and went to the baggage claim and decided to go sit at the airport restaurant bar and see how many guys I could pick up. Haha just kidding, but I did meet a friend there, which was awesome. He definitely made the lay-over time fly by. It felt like I was in a movie or something, you know, running off the plane to meet somebody. Anybody seen Red-Eye? (haha...)

Later I got to my gate and heard my last name being called. "Fro-see, Fro-see please come to the counter." When I went to the counter, the gift of executive class was handed to me. YESSSS! This was the flight that I definitely wanted first-class for, since they have the chairs that transform into beds at the click of a button. I bet all the people around me thought I was some kind of weird-o. As soon as I sat down, I just sat there smiling. Just smiling. That's it. And then I flipped through my first-class booklet like a million times trying to figure out how my remote worked. And I looked beside me to find a little silver bag, I opened it and it was full of goodies: toothbrush, toothpaste, lip balm, socks, hand lotion, earplugs, a facial towelette, and one of those beauty-rest things you wear over your eyes. It felt like Christmas! Oh and when this salmon-delicacy was put on my table in front of me (that took me like a good half hour to set up), I said, "Sorry, I believe I ordered the ravioli..." and the flight attendant was like, "Yes, I know. This is just the appetizer." HAHA...I definitely gave myself a hard kick after that. Being able to lie down flat on an airplane was a new experience for me. I thought I'd be able to sleep for hours that way, but I only slept off and on for a good two hours. I even fell asleep during "Letters to Juliet". How could I, I love that movie. :(

I got to the Frankfurt airport expecting chaos. Because everyone had warned me, "ohhh Jenni, the Frankfurt airport is the most confusing airport you'll ever experience!!!!" and gave me millions of instructions on how to go about. So I got there, asked where my gate was, and got there in no time! I don't know what all the fuss was about. My flight from Frankfurt to Friedrichshafen was 35 minutes long. Talk about short and sweet. My first-class experience on that flight was getting off with my very own Toblerone chocolate bar. I got off the tiny plane, picked up my luggage and walked to the train station. A nice German woman helped me out with the ticket machine, and a few minutes later I stepped into the city centre of Friedrichshafen. Now all that was left to do, was to find my hotel. Easy as pie. Not. I went in circles at least three times and climbed up and down staircases pulling over 80 pounds of luggage behind me and on me, in sunny 24 degrees weather. I don't even want to imagine what I must've looked like: a sweaty tourist. After grabbing a map, I finally arrived at my hotel, my air-conditioned hotel. It's so cute. it has a single bed against the wall, a nice big window, a tiny bathroom, and an even tinier tv. But honestly, who has time to watch German television?

I pulled my laptop from my bag and logged onto facebook to notify my family that I had arrived safe and sound! Oh and when I found out that my laptop cord didn't fit into my power-adapter, I almost went into freak-out mode. Then I realized that if I put it upside down, and let it just sit in there nicely and don't touch the cord at all, it works! Phewwwww.
Changing into ripped jeans and loading my favorite fringe purse with a map, brochure, euros, my camera, ipod, and aviator sunglasses, I headed out the door. It was about 3 in the afternoon and the sun was hot and high in the sky. I explored the streets and recognized everything to a tee. It's been a good 4 or 5 years since I've been here last, and everything is exactly as I remembered it. I bought myself an Evian water, and a cone of Stracciatella ice cream just walked around. I had one of those "wow, I'm really here..." kind of moments, until I bumped into an H&M and went a little crazy. And while I was in the change-room, Taylor Swift started playing on the radio and I was pumped.

Seeing the sun go down, I decided to start heading back to my hotel. My plans that night were to grab McDonalds from the train station and eat it in my room, watching Bride Wars until I fell asleep. But, out of the corner of my eye I saw a restaurant called Pizzeria La Perla, and I was like, "oh my goodness!! I ate here five years ago!" I went inside and nothing had changed at all! I ordered the same pizza too, #301- salami and spicy tunafischen. I just sat there all by myself, reading through brochures and taking it all in. I ate a quarter of the pizza and brought the rest back to my room. I put in an episode of Gilmore Girls and fell asleep about two minutes in.

So here I am, 14 hours of sleep later, (isn't that insane?! I have never slept so well in my entire life), refreshed and ready for another day!
I'm super proud of myself. I know alot of people who couldn't do what I just did today. And the thing is, everywhere I go I feel safe. I haven't felt nervous about anything. I feel more scared walking in Winnipeg with a group of people than I do here, in a foreign country, by myself. Interesting, isn't it?
So thanks for all your prayers! They're definitely working. Oh by the way, to those of you who were wondering, I did not end up having a breakdown on the plane. Pretty much everytime I fly I end up crying up in the clouds for some odd reason. But this time, I never did!! I think that says something. :)
Anyway, I'm gonna go run around some more. I have NO idea what I'm going to do today. Everything will be an impulse decision, which is so fun and exciting I think. Haha. Thanks for reading!

Saturday Afternoon Mess.

Two more sleeps until I'm Europe bound. I think I am going to throw up.

But before I do that, check out my new pink headphones!

Flawed?

Tonight I'm going to talk about flaws.
We all have 'em. We could name twenty of ours flaws in less than a minute if asked. We know them by heart.
We know exactly what our weaknesses are, exactly; we have no doubts in our minds about them.
But I have a burning question...if we know our flaws to a tee and can easily admit to ourselves that they exist, why is it that when somebody points out our flaws, we become extremely agitated?
When somebody takes note of our weaknesses and speaks them out loud right to our faces, why do we get so defensive?
We know that what they're pointing out is true and yet we still get upset over it. It's as if we're only OK with our flaws until somebody outside of our own body notices them.
It's as if they don't exist unless seen by a second pair of eyes. What's with this?
Or is the we I'm referring to actually just a me?
Lately I've been adjusting and tweaking my mindset. I've really started embracing these flaws of mine. Instead of clutching them like secrets and embarrassing indiscretions, I've been admitting them out loud.
Sure, I may speak them out nervously, hesitantly, or with an undenyingly obvious red face, but I actually talk about it now.
And why shouldn't I? They're part of who I am. They're a part of me. I talk about them and I work on them (if it's for the best).
You know what I think this is? I think it's confidence.
I'm not exactly or totally sure where it's coming from, but what I do know is that I'm loving it.
"I like it, I love it...I want some more of it."

Ignorance.

Ignorance really is, bliss.

Oops.

It's a crazy feeling, you know?
To talk about something for so long,
Never really believing it's actually gonna happen;
Never really thinking that the day is ever gonna come.
And then it comes,
and then it happens.

It's a crazy feeling, you know?
Tellin' people for months
that your plane-date is Tuesday the 21st,
When really, it's Monday the 20th.
What am I, some kind of a liar?
A liar who doesn't know how to read plan itineraries, apparently.
Oops.

To forgive and be forgiven.

If there's one thing I've experienced this summer, it's the power of forgiveness. As cheesy and as sunday-school as that sounds, forgiveness is such an amazing thing. And you'll never understand what I'm talking about unless you experience it for yourself.

To say the words "I'm sorry" and to hear the words "I forgive you" is...life changing. And to hear the words "I'm sorry" and to say the words "I forgive you" too, life changing. Honestly, have you ever apologized and actually, really, truly, madly, deeply (thank you Savage Garden) meant it? In my situation, God's voice was practically screaming into my ears; he couldn't have made it more obvious. And that's how I knew I was ready. That's how I knew it was right, there's not a doubt in my mind.

The weight that's lifted from your shoulders is freeing. And for the first time in your life, you feel completely content. There's nothing scraping away at the back wall of your mind. You can finally do and say things and not feel like a total sham.

Whoever decided whole "nothing tastes as sweet as revenge" thing obviously hasn't experienced life. Whoever thought that holding a grudge would offer a person some sort of fulfillment was wrong. And whoever refuses to forgive and be forgiven will live their lives with eyes closed, heart clenched, and hands cold.

I like the way this is going and I like the person I'm becoming. I like not being scared anymore, and I like the hand that's guiding me.

Love, Speeches & Slideshows

There's nothing quite like being cozied up in the bed of a just-cleaned room on a Sunday afternoon, with the natural sunlight pouring through the window and the vanilla-scented candle glowing. I finally, finally, finally have a few hours to relax. Man, I've missed this feeling; you know, being able to lie down, read a book, let your thoughts recollect and organize. I don't know about you, but this is something I love to do. And since this is my last week before I take off to Europe, I'm savoring every second of it right now.

For those of you who don't know, I took part in a wedding yesterday. It was an absolutely beautiful, wonderful, and emotional day. Last February my best friend asked me to be her Maid of Honour, and I gladly accepted. And as we all know, with this honour comes a speech! Believe it or not, I love giving them. I love being up there and knowing that I have everyone's attention, even if it's only for a few short minutes. I wish that what I had to say about speeches ended there. See, I have a bittersweet relationship with them...brainstorming and writing out a few drafts is no problem. But the things I have to experience minutes right before and during my speech is absolute TURMOIL. Here, I'm trying to enjoy my mashed potatoes, chicken bbq, and chocolate Skor trifle, but I can't seem to swallow a bite knowing that I'm about to spill my heart in front of 260 people. And as I'm saying the speech, oh boy...I thought my heart was going to beat itself up my throat. And honestly, I don't think it's possible for a person to talk any faster. Geez. Oh, and did I mention the part where I can't seem to catch a decent breath? I unfortunately only started getting a hang of the public-speaking thing during my last two sentences. But, I'm proud to admit with full confidence that I did my best; and the cooperative roars of laughter from the tables, and the compliments I received after the reception were great reassurances for me and my self esteem.

I know that alot of you weren't at this wedding, so I have decided to share not only my speech, but also my slideshow with you! So if you wish, enjoy!

"Good evening everyone and thank you for coming today to witness this wonderful celebration! Before I bring you all into the inner-workings of my heart, I would just like to introduce myself. My name is Jenni Froese. If that doesn’t ring a bell, my parents are Herman and Inge Froese. And if you’re interested, I’m sure you can ask around and find at least four of my relatives at each table.
Kayla, I want to thank you for giving me the pleasure of being your Maid of Honour. It has been an amazing ride seeing you transform from being 'just engaged' to 'just married'.

Kayla and I have been pretty much inseperable since the day Auntie Shirl brought her into this world. Being first cousins of the same age, we saw each other ALL the time: birthdays, Christmas’s, family gatherings, school, play-dates, and church every Sunday. We had one of those relationships being 'Hey…Kayla’s here, but where’s Jenni?' or 'Hey Jenni, where’d your other half run off to?' Ask anyone.

Being attached at the hip, we knew each other like the back of our hands. Something I always knew at a young age was that Kayla has always been ready for marriage. For example, I quickly learnt that the phrase 'let’s play Barbies!' actually meant 'Let’s plan another wedding!' And when it came to putting food on the table, all the times Kayla and I got together to make supper, consisted of Kayla scurrying around the kitchen cooking up a storm while I lazed around with my feet on the table indulging in all of her AMAZING culinary masterpieces. So Danny, congratulations, you have now replaced me as Chef Kayla’s official food taste-tester.
Speaking of Danny, Kayla had her eye on this man for quite some time now. I have distant memories from many years ago of Kayla just BEAMING everytime she’d spot Danny through the crowd at the Grunthal Fair…or make that EVERY Grunthal Fair. There was also one summer where Kayla and I were lying covert in the school field with our cameras in full zoom, snapping photos of Danny skateboarding at the dropzone. I have the pictures to prove it! Come talk to me after and I’ll gladly hand them out! ;)

But, my all-time personal favorite memory was the time Kayla ran up to me one day in high school beaming from ear to ear with excitement. 'So, last night Derek invited DANIEL GOERTZEN over to work out and lift weights in the basement, and Daniel looked SOOOO good.' At first we all believed that Kayla seeing Daniel lifting 250 pound weights…give or take, was a one time thing. You know, being in the right place at the VERY right time, or just a really good coincidence. But this started becoming a weekly occurrence and Danny eventually began returning Kayla’s doe-eyed gazes and the dropped jaws transformed into flirtatious smiles, speaking greetings of 'hello’s' and 'how are you’s?' As time passed, we were all convinced that Danny’s intentions for coming over were more than just to spend time with Derek bonding over sweat and dumbbells. He had his eye on a new Wiebe, a female Wiebe, a…Kayla Wiebe. After Danny had received permission from Kayla’s Dad to date her, I thought Kayla was happy. And for her to be any happier seemed way out of this world. To imagine her beautiful smile any bigger seemed physically impossible. But seeing her now, surrounded by so many of her family and friends who love her, and now being married to the man of her dreams, I know with full confidence that God has done incredible things.

Daniel, I want to thank you for taking such great care of Kayla all of these years, you have made her so happy. God couldn’t have done a better job in matching up the two most amazing people. I’m so very happy for you both and I wish you all the best in your married life together. Love you guys, and God bless!"

Click Here for Daniel and Kayla's Wedding Slideshow!

Worry?

I am...at a loss for words right now. All I can say is that God exists, he is real, and miracles do happen. Today was a miracle. This summer was a miracle.

Worry: to torment oneself with, or suffer from disturbing thoughts. Also known as Anguish, Apprehension, Concern, Distress, Heartache, Pain, Torture, Woe...
All of these are such ugly words. And if there's something I've learnt this summer, it's that worrying is a complete waste of time. For all the days I spent buried in my fears, and all the nights I lay awake staining my pillow with tears and mascara...it was all a waste of time. I wish I could take all of those minutes, those HOURS, add them all together, and get a good chunk of my life back. The bad news, is that you can't get it back; what's done is done. But the good news is that everything happens for a reason, and God's hand is in everything we do. It's as if everyday of my life God is telling me, "Honestly, don't worry about this. Don't even give it a second thought. Soon enough you'll see that what you're going through right now has a purpose and a reason for being. Just imagine how much you'll grow from this. Your smile will shine brighter than the stars, and you will feel love like you've never felt it before. Just wait and see. Just trust me."

I don't know what else I can say. God just has a way of making everything turn out. EVERYTHING. I can't even fathom it. I haven't felt this happy, or relaxed before bed in a long time.

We all live such incredible lives. Can you imagine the stories we could write? Ohhh can't you just picture the novels that are spinning and weaving inside our brains and souls at this very moment? One day I'm going to write a book. I don't know what it's all going to entail, or who, and although I could never write anything as exceptional as the stuff God writes, I do know that it's going to be great. It'll encourage, inspire, jerk tears, pull smiles, and honour God in so many ways.

On that note, I'd like to say thanks for reading. Over the past few days, I've gotten alot of encouraging emails, comments, and text messages regarding my previous worry-drenched blog entries. Your words mean the world to me.
Good night.

Conclusion:

Forgiving you, is hard to do.

On My Highway.

On my highway the yellow lines
Disappear from time to time
And I wound up on the wrong side of the road

On my highway I go too fast
Afraid that I might finish last
I hugged the curve too hard and lost control
Oh you never know which way it's gunna go

But what a feeling, chasing the sun
Living my life like a shot from a gun
Laughing a little bit more with every mile
Oh what a freedom racing the wind
Dying to know what's around the next bend
Smiling as I watch the years roll by
I'm learning how to take it day by day, on my highway

On my highway I missed some signs
And left a damn good love behind
I see her in my rear view like a ghost

On my highway I've broken down
Cried when no one else was around
And prayed that God would save my soul
Yeah I've paid a lot of heavy tolls

But what a feeling, chasing the sun
Living my life like a shot from a gun
Laughing a little bit more with every mile
Oh what a freedom racing the wind
Dying to know what's around the the next bend
And smiling as I watch the years roll by
I'm learning how to take it day by day on my highway

Yeah, yeah
What a feeling out on the run
Drinking up the rain
Soaking up the sun
Laughing a little bit more with every mile
What a freedom, like a sail in the wind
Not looking back, not forgetting where I've been
Smiling as I watch the years roll by
And I'm moving on from my mistakes,
And I'm learning how to take it day by day...
On my highway.

-Jason Aldean

I Want That.

The other day when I watched Taylor Swift's new video for "Mine", I cried. I actually, literally, seriously ...cried. I'm not sure why; maybe it was because I've been counting down the seconds for that video to come out, and the excitement just hit me like a brick wall. Or maybe it was because all I could think to myself was, I want that.
I'm not ashamed to admit that I cried, and I'm not ashamed to admit that what that video portrays is everything beautiful to me.
These days the practical side of my brain has been working in full swing. My head is finally outta the clouds and my lungs are breathing in the non-dreaming, suffocating air of this world. I've almost had myself convinced that life isn't like what you see the in movies, the music videos playing on CMT, or what's on the radio. Almost; but when I watched this music video, it's as if all of my convincing threw itself out the window. Sigh. The life of a dreamer is a tough one.
I think I need some sleep, lot's and lot's of sleep. You can only sleep less than five hours a night for so long before you begin to go a lil' crazy. Not tonight though, Gilmore Girls is a necessity.