Decaf

I've been decaffing my body the last few days. The first two days, I had a dull headache and was pretty tired all day. Yesterday wasn't too bad, still tired. Today a little better.

I think I'm going to sign up for a one week massage course. It's something I've always wanted to do, and I think now is time.

I'll be booking my tickets to Australia in the next few days....I can't wait ! I'm trying to be patient - see if the prices drop. Perhaps if I work on my patience now - I won't have to work on it later :D.

This coming weekend is still undecided. My family would like to go to TO, but I'm not sure if I feel like it. I don't know why, but I've really wanted things to be quiet lately.

So, no coffee to perk me up this morning .... a soothing caffeine free herbal will hopefully keep me going.

Decision Week

It all started last Sunday morning - July 20th. I was laying in bed thinking, I just came back from vacation and I need to go again. And, how am I going to manage going to Australia ? Africa ? There are just so many things going on and there is so much I'm feeling I need to do. Hmmm....I should just take a one year sabbatical and get everything done. And, I left it at that.

God didn't leave it at that. I hooked up to chat with my mentor after church - we had a bit to catch up on. In and amongst our conversation I brought this sabbatical thing up. And, bang !! Through our conversation I realized that it was the exact thing I needed. And, on so many levels. I couldn't wait - I got to work on Monday, darn my boss is off. Tuesday, boy was I nervous....but, it'd drive me insane if I didn't do it right away. Talked to my boss - he was good with it ! Wooohoooo !! It means I can take a year off and still have a job when I return ! AND - I can keep all my benefits if I decide to pay the premiums myself! Yes please ! I'm going to Africa - what better time to be covered in case something goes wrong.

Two days ago, I had a lovely chat with my living in Australia friend. It looks like I'll be down under for two months. TWO WHOLE MONTHS !! We're going on a two week cruise. It's going to be an awesome, once in a lifetime crazy good time. And, assuming all goes well - I'm going to be experiencing an Australian Christmas ! How cool is that ?!

That's a lot to have hapenned in one week. And, a lot to have happened since returning from Egypt. I get the feeling this is going to be an awesome, pivotal year in my life - I can't wait !!

Sabbatical starts on Aug 25. 4 weeks left....

Week 2 - World Changers

Yikes - this was crazy exhausting week. Every morning I arose before 5, and sometimes as early as 3:30am. Our church had 200 youth in town to help with construction/reno jobs around town. And, my job was to help pack their lunches. Oh, the week was long .... I can't really remember much else from that week.

I do remember the weekend before that I had decided to reign in my emotions. My personal trainer had said that my energy was strong and I realized that my emotions were projecting all over the place. And perhaps, or really, really likely that people whether they realized it or not were responding to whatever I was projecting. And, I was reacting to their reacting. And, since my emotions do the wild, runaway horses thing - no wonder I found certain social situations stressful.

I also realized that week that certain people just mess up the atmosphere of a room for me. Sometimes its attitude, sometimes its what they say, and sometimes its just a sense - but, regardless from where there are just times where I need to leave a place. I'm learning so much about what I'm sensitive to and how I'm sensitive and how it affects me and how I affect those around me and my choices in it all.

It was an interesting, but exhausting week.

And, that brings me up to last week. I'm going to call that decision week. Onto the next blog.

Canada Again - Week 1

Wow ! What a trip. I got back on July 6th in Montreal and just caught the bus that was taking me back to Ottawa. I was so glad to be home. Dad picked me up at the bus station and brought me home. I was exhausted.

My cat didn't believe I was back. She gave me the weirdest look and then did her feline walk over to Dad and rubbed up against him. I think only then did she clue in to who I was.

I was wiped Monday, and wiped Tuesday. Had a fabulous catch up chat with my mentor on Monday. This lady rocks and I'm so blessed to be in that relationship. Had a great supper and chat with some friends Tuesday evening, but headed home soon after and crashed.

I attended my first belly dancing class Wednesday - a friend was kind enough to drive me out to Kanata. I didn't trust myself behind the wheel that evening. Belly dancing was good, but the instructor was so-so. It was a good place to be though.

Played soccer on Thursday, but was really sore from Belly Dancing.

And, I think I just plain old crashed Friday evening.

Saturday was prep for the big church lunch we were having the next day. I love times of working in the kitchen with friends. It's a great chance to catch up, tell stories, eat yummy food and do work to help church out.

So, that's week one - week two in the next blog

Cruising with God

It is hard to describe this adequately in less than a million words. Ok, slightly exagerated but still ....

The cruise was good. The Egyptian temples and monuments were cool. But most significant was the time I spent reading a novel and the Bible. Not huge on the Adrenaline high scale, but huge on the I'm a big romantic scale.

First, the novel - it's a simple story called "The Rescue" by Lori Wick. As I read it, I felt such a peace and such tenderness. At first, I thought it was just kinda cool - y'know good book, warm, fuzzy feelings. But, it really felt pronounced - like my heart was being touched with something really gentle and soothing. I just couldn't get past how calming it was. Later on that day, I come across this Bible scripture - one of my favorites from a few years ago:

Zephaniah 3:17 - "He (God) will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing."

Wow!! That described it perfectly - God was quieting me with His love.

Second, just the time reading my Bible and a book called, the Beginner's Guide to Prophecy, asking God questions and discovering His answers on things. As a quick aside, prophecy is described as seeing people as God sees them, and hearing what God has to them and about them. It is a gift described in the New Testament that is meant to encourage and build up people. But, it has often been abused and people have been hurt. Like anything - people have used it to wack other people on the head in the name of God. That's just evil.

Anyways, so many things spoke to me. Things I had been wondering about and things I hadn't. There were things that God reminded me of. There were just so many little coincidences of things I had been thinking about, and there were the answers.

I've taken away a few things from the books. It'll all sound cliche if I type it out. Instead I'll just say that I've taken mental notes on how I need to view my work, my boss, people who let me down and people who hurt me. Little things and views I need to change, like course corrections if your driving a boat.

Last day on the Nile

What an awesome cruise! And, it's all because of the God time I spent. I'll get to that part, but first the cruise itself.

I'm on a boat called the M/S Beausoleil. Our guide's name is Emile. Nice guy. There's a great boutique on the boat run by a guy called Peter. I bought a few things from him - good prices, and no haggling. I compared some of his prices to what I could reach after haggling. It's nice to know you don't have to worry.

Let's see if I can remember all the sites we visited. The first day was the Valley of the Kings, which is where the Pharaohs were buried. They've found 62 sites so far, with King Tut's being the last and most well preserved. Then Queen Hatchepsut's temple. She's one of only 3 women who reigned over Egypt. She portrayed herself as a man in all the artwork and dressed like a man so that the Egyptians would accept her reign. That qualifies her as the very first feminist ever !!

The next day, we visited Karnak and Luxor temples. The Karnak temple is huge and was built over hundreds of years. Every Pharoah built and added on to it because it was used to worship their main god - Amoun-Ra. There are areas where there is still color (right) and obelisks that are over 20 meters high carved out of a single piece of granite(below).






Think about this - they carve out of pure granite a piece without lasers, or power drills, or power saws. Then they float (yes FLOAT) it down the Nile, get to their destination and stand it up. There is some serious math, physics, and geology involved combined with massive creativity.






Then we visited the Luxor temple(right) - smaller, but still cool. The guide told us that back in the day, there was a 3km long line of sphinxes between the two temples.




Then, the temples of Edfu, Kom Mombo and Philae. There is history and description to all of them, but I'd never finish if I tried to write it all down. The major points are that they are huge, they are full of history. Egypt is finally working hard at gathering and safe guarding its treasures.