Monday, October 23, 2006

a thought

some stories don't have a clear beginning, middle, and end. life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what's going to happen next. delicious ambiguity...
~gilda radner

sometimes it's too easy to keep looking ahead, wanting to know what's going to happen, wanting security--but then you miss out on the joy and the freedom of the moment

aveces es tan facil buscar adelante, querer cosas que todavia no tengo--la seguridad por ejemplo. pero si estoy asi, no puedo disfrutar el gozo y la libertad del momento

Saturday, October 07, 2006

canadian geese, fall leaves, and northern lights

Last weekend I got to hang out with a Japanese student I had in the summer. We went to Fort Whyte Centre, which is a wildlife conservation place and watched all of the Canadian Geese come in for the night. Wow--how beautiful! There were tonnes--it was so neat to see the lake, over the span of 45 minutes just FILL up with them. I also just love seeing all of the beautiful colours of the leaves.


La fin de semana pasada, fui con una de mis estudiantes de japon a un lugar cerca de mi cuidad donde hay muchos lagos y arboles. Fuimos a ver los gansos porque ellos vienen a este lugar a dormir (en este tiempo, estan viajando al sur por el invierno). Fue cheverissimo ver bastante gansos llenan el lago. Tambien, me encanta los colores de las hojas en este tiempo.



There were also some other neat stuff there, like tipis.

Tambien en este lugar hubo otras cosas, como los "tipis." Eran las casas mobil de los indigenous muchos anos atras.

My friend had also REALLY wanted to see the Northern Lights. A lot of my students have come here, hoping to see them. I tried to tell her that, well, you know, we are still a little south to see them really well and one can never know when they'll appear. But I did ask my small group bible study to pray that God would send them on that day and someone in my group said, "Well, let's pray that she sees a shooting star, too!" Well, guess what? We DID see the Northern Lights AND a shooting star! God is good. And it was so great to see her reaction, she was sooooo excited! It's unfortunate how when we've seen God's beautiful creation a few times, it can be easy to lose that sense of awe. My friend definitely helped bring that back.


Tambien, mi amiga quiso ver los aurora borealis ("northern lights" o "luzes del norde"). Aveces les podemos ver cerca de mi cuidad pero es mucho mejor si vayas mas norde. Tambien, nunca sabemos cuando appreceran, entonces la dije que "probablemente no les vamos a ver." Pero igual, pide a mi grupo de estudio biblica que oremos que Dios nos muestra los northern lights--y uno de mis amigos dijo "Y oramos tambien que ustedes veran una estrella que caen"(no se la palabra correcta). Y en la noche cuando sali con este amiga, vimos los Nothern Lights Y este estrella!!! Gloria a Dios! Mi amiga no es cristiana pero ese me dio la oportunidad decirla: "Mira que Dios te envio! Esta deciendote que te ama." Que maravilla!

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

Sparky, 1991-2006

My dog, Sparky, got put down while I was in Ecuador. I knew it would happen because she'd been pretty sick all summer, but it's still pretty sad--we'd had her for 15 years. I'm just glad that I didn't have to be there the day that she died. You were a good dog, Sparks--miss you.






Mi perra, Sparky, se murio mientras estaba en Ecuador. Supe que pasaria porque estuvo enferma por algunas meses, pero igual es triste para mi. Era una parte de mi familia por 15 anos. Solo estoy agradecido que no estuve alla la dia que se murio. Era una buena perra, Sparks--te extrano.





The little cutie shortly after we brought her home from the Humane Society.

Sparky, cuando era perrita--que linda, no?