New discovery: I love running.
New discovery: There are really neat trails on the side of the mountain near our house. Dang, I wish I knew they were there sooner.
New discovery: Lots of firepits up there!
New discovery: Do not throw other peoples water bottles over the side of mountain. (Will explain later)

Tonight we went for a hike on our new-found trails. My brothers, Dylan and Reuben; sister, Adina; other "brother", Alex. (Neighbour who is here so much he is now one of us:); and me.









Cool blurry photos



This is something that we found along the way. Reuben: "I think there's a dead body in there."



It was empty! Looks cool though...perfect for Adina.







These are stairs that go from the bottom to the top. We came to them on our hike and the boys wanted to go up. This is where things get fun! I let them go up and me and Adina hung out here ...about halfway. The boys were gone for a few minutes and then suddenly I see them running back down with a lady on their heels yelling and swearing at them.
I guess Alex saw this random water bottle up there and thought it would be a good idea to throw it over the side. Turns out it was her water bottle. I thought I would wait and talk to the lady...but decided against it. As soon as the boys made it across the street...we booked it! "Let's run guys!"- me. "I'm following you!"- phsyco lady. But I guess she didn't plan on takin' the trail; we didn't see her after that.
What was she going to do? Beat the kid?

It was quite comical. We made jokes about her all the way home....like how she will haunt those trails now. :P



We made it down just before dark


It looks like I have no braces! (Photography:Dylan Harris)



Blossoms. (Photography: Dylan Harris)

If I could get 8 treadmills and like...3 other people...I would attempt this.
I mean, be honest...you want to try this!

Right?

"If I was a raindrop,
Would you be my thunderstorm?
It's cold, so surround me,
With rain clouds to keep me warm."





"Your love is a symphony
all around me
running through me

Your love is a melody
underneath me
running to me

Oh, your love is a song"

....It was 8:30 in the evening and Jessica Harris felt a sudden burst of energy! She started to clean her room. And not just clean, but get rid of stuff that had been sitting around forever and had never been touched since the 3 years that she had lived in this room. It was not only this burst of energy that had compelled Jessica to do this, but she had been thinking of late. And she had determined that she needs to live with less and really get in the habit of keeping her room clear of stuff that she doesn't need. She began with her drawer full of papers and started sifting through all of the bank statements, letters, old cards, and other little things that needed recycling. She smiled as she read each card before putting it in the recycle pile. There was one more card and Jessica took it out of the envelope, opened it, and yelped in surprise! Her hand came to her mouth in shock as she beheld...a nice crisp $50 bill! She then proceeded to laugh for the next 5 minutes at least. See, cleaning your room can be fun. And just look how God blesses the one who does!
hahaha.

The End
(Actually not quite, next I plan on going through my clothes...who knows what I will find in my closet!)

i thoroughly enjoy tea. especially chai.

i was thinking about how things change. sometimes life changes so quickly, and sometimes painfully. other times, it's such a gradual change that you hardly notice until you look back. that's the change i have been thinking of today. i miss a lot of things; a lot of people. i miss certain feelings and atmospheres that i wouldn't even know how to describe. i miss long summers at the beach. i miss playing sports late into the night with friends, camping trips...being active. i miss elizabeth. i miss danielle. i miss jessica...and all of my good friends who live so far away.
im not saying my life is horrible where it's at...just different now. most of the time i don't even realize it. but there are many times that i do. and it's funny because i look back with such fondness and yet, it's not like those days were care-free or really any easier, harder, funner (yeah i know that's not grammatically correct ;), or whatever else. i think it's something everyone does now and then...they long for "the way things used to be"...whatever that is. haha. :)
BUT, i can look back and praise God for all of it and everything. i wouldn't trade any of the changes for anything, because He used them to make me who i am today. and really, once i'm in heaven, i'm sure i'll look back. and when i do, this whole life will seem so short, it will be just like a dream...

(you like my photo? yeah, that's me thinking. :)

I've been home for a week and I never did write much about BC and my trip there. So I thought I would do that now, although I did put some photos up, and they say that a picture is worth a thousand words. But photos sometimes just don't do justice. Like, how at home I felt with Bronwyn Gray and her family. It's like I had known them forever. Her mom is the sweetest thing ever. She does alot of daycare and even has clubs on Thursdays that about 40 kids from the neighbourhood come to do crafts and hear Bible stories. I got to meet a few of them because I was there on a Thursday. There were so many kids! It was exciting to see. The Grays have a heart for their neighbourhoods and it seemed like everywhere we went Bronwyn saw someone she knew. She has a paper route and I helped her out with that one day and met an older man named Vic. Bronwyn visits with him when she does her paper route and they have become good friends. I can tell that she is a tremendous encouragement to him. Even an example as she witnesses to him as well.

I met a lot of nifty people! The first night a few girls came over and we played our guitars and sang the night away. It was sensational. :) And then another day Amanda (photo in post below) came over and showed us her photos from Bolivia and Peru. I showed her some of India. It was great to swap stories!
There was another elderly man that I met, whose name is Arthur, and I enjoyed his company immensely. Bronwyn and I walked home from church with him and had a grand time talking about random things. He knows so much about the world! Also, he is from England, so he has a sweet accent.
I did so many active things there! I haven't been that active in a long time. We walked nearly everywhere or biked. We went to the gym and worked on our muscles. :) Spontaneity would kick in and we would do random things that weren't planned...like go swimming. Or go hang out with some girls down the street and watch a movie with them. That was fun!
We had time to talk about anything and everything and pray and talk and walk and talk and go to Timmies and talk. It was quite enjoyable.

Anyway, that's my time in a fairly small nutshell. It was a refreshing and pleasurable first experience of BC. But, it was mostly because of the people, not necessarily the mountains or anything. Of course, they were nice, too. Good for picture taking.

All that to say, I hope that I can go back sometime!


Side note: (Cool quote about spontaneity.... )

“Spontaneity is the quality of being able to do something just because you feel like it at the moment, of trusting your instincts, of taking yourself by surprise and snatching from the clutches of your well-organized routine, a bit of unscheduled plea” - Unknown

Mountains.



New friend, Amanda and Bronwyn

Taneesha discovering Photo Booth.

Good times singing and playing together! :)