I guess I’m stuck with jujubes.

Our third roommate is getting married, needless to say that she is leaving. She’s not only leaving us and leaving with all the furniture and stuff that is hers, but she’s leaving us with the task of finding someone to replace her. I don’t like making important decisions, you know, those that can affect your life and the lives of others either positively or negatively. You can’t know the outcome unless you push a button, make a decision and live with it. That is sort of how it feels now as we are pondering about the different prospect roommates we have and not being certain of who would be the best person to pick. Thinking about these things can get me a bit confused or wanting to know the outcome of every option and this simply doesn’t get me anywhere.

I think that the real problem is not in the outcome of the choice made but rather in the attitude we have after the decision is made, when we realize it wasn’t the best choice and can’t go back. It is obvious that we always try to make right decisions, but in trying to get the best thing for me, I’m basically saying that I want the least trouble, I want things to go my own way so I’m comfortable . And that’s alright. But if things just happen to not work well and are awkward and I wish I’d chosen differently… am I to get frustrated and unhappy? Should it have the power to change my attitude? I think that no matter the better choices we could have made, we should use that opportunity to learn to be more like Jesus and deal with whatever situation we’re in.

I sort of have that perspective about finding a roommate. It doesn’t really matter if we don’t choose the best person, what matters is that whoever it is, I’ll be found loving that person as Jesus calls me to, no matter the ups and downs. And that really brings relief. Yes we’ll make the best decision we can, but really what counts is love and learning from each other and growing in Christ in that situation.

No wonder why people say I’m worry-free. I truly am and that’s only because of Christ who teaches me and that’s why I can rejoice.

“For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” Romans 14:17

Two things.

My two sisters gave me a beta fish a few months ago. I asked my nephew Caelan (who’s 3) how I should name it. He only said a word that I didn’t understand, so I asked his brother (well, my nephew as well) what he’d said. Brothers are good to translate eachother’s thoughts it seems. Iain told me that Caelan had said, “Bourgogne” (burgundy). So we called the fish “Bourgogne” for a month or so. The thing though, is that they used to have a fish like mine, so Caelan probably just remembered the name of his fish looking at mine. So I had another name in mind, “Bétrave” (beet). Well, I’ve noticed something quite interesting in Bétrave’s behavior the other day.

You see, I am a busy person. And… even though Bétrave’s water needed to be changed, I … well, did homework instead, or, you know, things that needed to be done. I just had no time. For at least one and a half weeks I let Bétrave live in a dirty environment. And on top of that, I started skipping his meals. After a little while of this miserable life of his, I noticed that each time I’d come over to his … square bowl (this is NOT a fish tank…) and Bétrave would be running away (hmmm, swimming away) from me, hidding under stones. He’d freak out. Poor thing (no, I am not Julie Sommer).

So a few days ago, I decided to take the time to clean up the “fish water” and put Bétrave back on top of the TV, as usual. The next time I came around to feed him, Bétrave didn’t run away, didn’t try to hide, didn’t freak out at all. He was doing great again.

So here’s my advice for parents (because I am one myself -and I am a liar too-): Make sure you feed your kids and provide them with a clean enviroment, otherwise, they’ll be prone to run away from you. Understood?

Second thing.

I’ve always had trouble sleeping well when I work the evening shift at VV. After working till 10:30pm or so, I kept waking up, half dreaming, half there, about work and etc. during the night it was never pleasant and frustrating. The other night, I worked on a homework for about 5 hours and went to bed. In the morning “I awoke and looked around. My sleep had been pleasant to me.” (Jeremiah 31:25-26). I asked myself what I had done to sleep so well (it had been a while since I’d felt so good), the answer came easily: I had worked on a homework in which I had to create a one-week lesson plan for intensive ESL students. Quite boring you may think, but I actually enjoyed doing it.

So my advice to myself: Do not work at VV for the rest of your life, you better become a teacher, you’ll sleep better.

I’m quite happy about this realization. It encourages me to keep studying. No less than 3 years to go.

Tonight was Rachel’s 22nd birthday rememberance day… Since I was not working today I spent most of it preparing for the celebration. I think I’m using too big words here. Anyways. We had bought corn (on the cob) – they were 10 for .97$, pretty amazing eh… I guess the season is coming to an end so corn is cheap. The kitchen was decorated in a pretty cheesy way for the ”event” and we had a good time, even if the cake was SO sweet and had a … soap taste somehow, somewhere.

After our little friendly supper we when to Bubble Tea, situated in China Town. I don’t particularly like to go there simply because I don’t like bubble teas and there’s an unpleasant little smell in the retaurant that I seem to be alone to notice, but anyways, Rachel likes going there and I’m learning to like other types of beverages they have. We played Dutch Blitz and kept our scores on the very wall of the restaurant. Sounds pretty wrong to write on a wall that doesn’t belong to us eh? Right. But the thing is that the wall we were sitting by was full of writing, signatures and etc.

Rachel -again- won. I’m not really quick at any games, especially not card games. We finally left around 9:30 and headed home.

I hope you have a good day too.

This is for those of you who have been asking for pictures of our apartement. I offer you a live TOUR. I didn’t talk much, on purpose, simply because my voice sounds shhhhhhhhh ish, don’t know why.

Good morning, it’s 12:40am. Should I go to bed? Of course. But I’m scared to turn off the music that is playing on my laptop. I came back from work it was 11:46pm and the only way to keep the Rock’n Roll music I was listening to at work, is to listen to something else. If I turn ths music off, then Rock’n Roll will be back in my head. I need batteries for my cd player I think.

Update on our Open House – We had a great time. Family and friends hung around from 2pm till… 12am on Sunday. We had lots of good food, good music, fellowship and Dutch Blitz. Thank you all for coming and even for bringing us presents! A special thanks to my the Barkers and the Frys who gave me a fish! Hopefully, it’ll live long long long.

Work – I’ve been looking for ways toshare the Gospel at work. It’s sort of difficult since I rarely spend time with other co-workers. I usually work alone and when I am with someone else, we have little time to get to anything very deep in our discussions. I had the idea of putting Gospel tracks in the bathrooms. So today I went to a Christian book store and got some tracks. It’s a delight to see the Gospel tracks disappear from the bathroom. I pray that God will use them somehow. Recently I’ve been thinking about how I entertain my thoughts, especially when I don’t need to think. I could go about my work without thinking about anything. But is it what should fill my mind? Emptiness? I decided that I wanted God to fill my thoughts at all times and be thinking about good things or reciting verses or… while I work. It’s hard. I tried to do that before in a different job and I always went astray. Today, as I was cleaning up after customers, I noticed a little Muslim boy and felt that I could pray for him and his mom. I started praying for all the people around me, all the customers that I could see, asking God to give them a desire to know the Truth, to bring Christian people around them, praying that they’d get to know the Gospel and finally worship and glorify the only God and Creator. I think I should keep this practice. It’s better than to think about nothing. I don’t know but the Muslims are always heavy on my heart.

After more than a month of moving and painting and etc. my roomies and I are finally opening our home to family and friends. It is not that nobody was allowed in before, but it’s simply that we want people to come over tomorrow, Sunday the 5th of August for some relax time and see the apartment. If you’re around and would like to pass by, just drop an email, call us, leave a comment… I know it’s tomorrow but oh well.

 So yes, my room is painted and I’ve been putting things up on my walls and it feels like my room finally. All the bedrooms I’ve had all look sort of the same to a certain extent. The same style. So you won’t be surprised if you come and realize that my room is… well, Gabrielle’s room. I’ve got millions of books on top of my desk and the milk crates that are acting as shelves are way to packed. I’m looking for shelves or something that could hold my books and etc. I don’t actually know when my room will finally be done. We’ll see.

I was planning on checking out a new church tomorrow, but I was told today (a day in advance) that we had a mendatory meeting at work at 9am. The store opens at 10 so the meeting will last an hour, I thought that I could still make it to church, well a different church that starts at 10:30 (the new church starts at 10), but then I was told that I had been selected to be part of the “Halloween Team” so I’ll have to stay at work until 10:30. Very fun. I’m being sarcastic here. Well, I believe it’s kind of fun that I’ll be doing something different and new, I was told that Halloween was the biggest event of the year at VV (the store). So anyways, I won’t get to check out a new church, nor will I get to go to church at all tomorrow. Je suis une paienne! (I am a pagan!).

What else is happening tomorrow? Hopefully, lots of joy and grace for you and me.

Here is a picture of my two sisters. I know they look pretty hot here, but I’m sorry, they’re both married women.

This is Gabe (well, me I mean) and Rachel …

Me and Esther…

Hmm… maybe Esther won’t like that picture very much, so here’s an other one.

 Here’s a video that Rachel took as we tried to get to the metro station after the fireworks were over… quite an experience.

Hey so we (my two roomies and I) moved into our apartment on Saturday June 30. Fun eh? We’ve been busy cleaning and painting and putting things where we think they should belong. Many friends and family helped us in many different ways like helping us move out, and/or move in, and/or stay at our place for the phone and Internet guy to come hook it up while we were gone working… Here is an interesting picture that I thought I should share.

This is… we’ll change her name for… Stephanie. We were making mashed potatoes but we had just finished painting the kitchen to the floor was covered with plastic and old sheets. The paint thingies are still on the floor and since we have no garbage can yet, Stephanie is pealing the potatoes bent over a garbage bag. At any moment, she could drop a potato in the paint. Obviously she didn’t.

Well, it’s late and the picture doesn’t want to work. I’ll try some other time.

So this is pretty exciting! My two friends and I hve been lookinf around and checkin out many appartments and it’s been heavy on our minds to find the right one. It’s just crazy how appartments are taken away SO quickly (comme des p’tits pains chauds – as we say in French “As small warm buns”). So after several weeks or research we finally found it. My friends checked it out during the weekend and we went back tonight together and yes we got it.

It’s not an area of Montreal that I know very much, but just walking outside and seeing the shops and etc. made me feel at home somehow. It’s a nice part of the island and it’s so quiet. The appartment is alright and very cheap, we’ll enjoy living there. We can move in at the end of June probably. We’re all looking forward to move in! Thinking about all kinds of fun details like painting our walls, which room will be mine and hers and hers… It’s really neat.

Thanks for your prayers. I’ve got an other prayer about that though. I’ll be able to stay at my grandparents’ place until May 31st, after that, other people are moving in since my grandparents sold their building. I need to find a place to live until I can move into our appartment. Somewhere on the Island. Please pray for that.

Thanks! A new adventure’s starting!

The map (this is the island of Montreal), in RED is where I am living right now and in YELLOW is where I’m moving to. It’s a 12 minute metro ride from my university, not too bad eh?