My Life By a Snapshot

 Hey there friends, I've been gone from here for almost a year this time around! The last time I posted was in March of 2021. Life has been wonderful and crazy all at the same time. I'm so excited to say that I've got a brand new blog post to share with you. But, I thought it may be nice to share a little life update before we get to that. Firstly, I've taken on some responsibilities with our church. I do the scheduling for the kid's ministry. I am one of the teachers for our K-4th grade Sunday School class and I help with Children's church during service. Noah helps lead the youth Sunday School class and I got to chaperone our youth camp back in June. We took on hosting our community group every Sunday night for a while until we recently started meeting at our church building. All this definitely gives me a lot more to do with my days and I have loved being more involved with our church.  At the end of June, I took my friend Alyson and her friend Mar to a Sunfl...

Hi there, Today I wanted to tell a few little stories. On their own, they wouldn't be enough for a blog post. But, compiled they will be. They all have a theme. Do you ever hear a song, smell a flower, feel a fabric, taste food or see a place that instantly brings you back to a specific place in time? That's what these stories are about.  The first story is what made me think about all this in the first place. One day last week I was walking to work when something caught my eye. There in the side of the path was a tree with some berries hanging from it; mulberries to be exact. This made my heart jump with joy. I gently pick a handful and popped them in my mouth one by one as I continued on my way. As I bit into them by taste buds brought me back to Alice Springs, Australia when I was about nine years old. There in my cousins' back yard was a mulberry tree. The 4-6 of us cousins would all climb up into that tree. There we would sit and eat berries until our hands and ...

Hi, Back in January of 2017, I told my testimony. However, testimonies are ever-evolving, ever-growing and ever-changing. As you grow and mature you see things that you've never seen before. As they say, hindsight is 20/20. Meaning that so often we can only see what was really happening when we look back on it. I recently applied for Bible school and a part of that was a written testimony. So, I decided to share it here too. I've tweaked it a little and edited it to be a little more appropriate for this platform. Hre's a warning. My story is a really long, complicated story. But, I think that everything is important. A lot of my story requires a lot of explaining. So, here we go! I had the great privilege to be raised in a solid Christian home. Church attendance was mandatory, even if we were on vacation. Modesty was highly encouraged. We were always involved in the church. But we moved a lot. I’ve lived in about 15 houses during my life, that I can think of! My mo...

Hey there,  You know, having teams is tiring. Long days of sweaty work then nights of restless sleep. You’re constantly answering questions and fixing problems. Always calling tuk-tuks and taking people places. There’s always cleaning to do and people to help. Sometimes food goes missing or things get broken. There is always cleaning supplies to buy and bike tires to pump up. When they finally leave I’m left exhausted. I finally sleep longer hours and the house is decently clean. I get alone time and free time. I look better because I have more time to get ready and rest more. I don’t spend so much money on coffee or tuk- tuks. Our little PVT team was a blast! But at the end of the day I wouldn’t have it any other way. When they leave I’m left sad. Missing the hustle and bustle that never seems to leave the house. There’s always somebody to talk to or do stuff with. Weekends are filled with meaningful coffee dates and memorable adventure days. I have a reason to wake u...

Hi there,  This goes out to all those who have ever thought negatively about their body. I'm writing this to anyone who doesn't like the way they look. This is for those who criticize their bodies. I'm talking to those who are self-conscious about their looks. So, listen up. I've got a story to tell. This is my story.    I want to start this off by saying that I only realized all this after it had all happened. I didn't recognize the thoughts and my actions at the time. But, looking back I can now see what was going on. It's kind of like life is a highway and I can only see the giant pothole in the rear-view mirrors. With that said, today I wanted to tell my story of the wrestling match between me and my own body. I'm not telling this story because it's a pleasant one. I'm not telling this story because I enjoy thinking about it. I'm not trying to make you smile. I'm telling it because it's a part of my story and I hope that others...

Hi, So, I'm finally writing again!It's been five months since my last post and this is well overdue. But why? Why did it take me all this time to write another post? Why haven't I written and what have I been doing all this time? Well, you're in luck because that's exactly what I'm going to write about today. First of all, Thailand happened. In April my family and I left Cambodia for two and a half weeks to vacation in Thailand. We had been here for two years and a break was in need. It was amazing, relaxing and well worth it. We spent a whole lot of time in the water and the sun plus plenty of down time in the air conditioning reading and relaxing. We went kayaking, snorkelling, hiking and just general adventuring. But when the time was up we were happy to get to go back home to our kids and our centre. Our time away helped us to see why we do what we do and just how much we love it all. And then... Teams happened. We've had quite a few t...

Hi there, As missionaries we often get asked many questions when we meet new people and often they are the same questions. So, today I thought I would answer some of the most common ones. Let's go! 1. Where are you from? I am half Canadian (Dad) and half Australian (Mum). I was born in Canada but soon after moved to Australia. We lived 10 years in Australia and then 4 in Canada. 2. How long have you been here for? We got here in April of 2015. So, we have been here for about a year and three months now. 3. And how long will you be here for? We don't know. We have no set date or even year. As long as God wants us to be here we will be here. I have to finish school before I though. So, I have at least a year and a half to two years left. 4. So how do you do school? I do distance education. I attend Brisbane School of Distance Education. It's all online. So, I have classmates, different teachers for each subject and I have to attend classes at a ...

Today I decided to share with you a poem that I wrote recently as I looked back over the past years and how far I have come since then. This poem describes my personal journey with God and a bit of my testimony in a way. The poem is titled 'He Gave Me Life'. I really hope you like it! He told me he loves me, But I didn't believe him. He told me he saved me, But I didn't care. He told me he hears me, But I didn't listen. He told me he holds me, But I ran. Then He gave me love, And I believed. He gave me grace, And I cared. He gave me peace, And I listened. He gave me life, And I lived. We each have a journey in life and mine has brought me through some tough times. But, now I can see that God was with me through it all and his love is above all things in my life. Now, because of it all, I am in a wonderful place living and growing each and every day. Remember that through everything God is always there; looking over you, guiding you, s...

This is the rant of my friend Millicent on the subject of the Orlando shooting last week. One of the strangest things happened last night.... So I was going to upload a typical photo with a quote on Facebook anyway do you think I could find that perfect quote? well I did... Only it didn't match the photo but it totally made me freeze for a heck of a time and I ended up venting to a close friend for an hour!! okay so what did it say? "we cut and kill flowers because we think they are beautiful...but we also cut and kill people because we think their not..." Just let that sink in, you might have to read it again or a couple times I don't know but I'm positive you froze, or cried or got goose bumps or felt numb or maybe you felt the whole world stop for a second! So this was last night and I had no idea that on the other side of the world that this would become even more true than it was last night when I read it! It was quite odd that what I vented to...

Story Time! I'm sitting here in a café with air-conditioning on my laptop working on a Modern History assignment while sipping on a smoothie when I look outside and to see a women. This is a young Khmer woman who is sitting in knee high grass in a public park with a black garbage bag next to her and a knife in hand (like a cleaver or something). She is cutting the grass. Yep in the middle of the day in the heat of the sun cutting the grass with nothing but a knife. She was there when we arrived and has been at it for over an hour now. She is sweating and is slowly cutting the grass one handful at a time; perseverance. As I watched this woman cut the grass one handful at a time I realized just how lucky, blessed and privileged we are. We often take it all for granted. We are comfortable. We have education and stable jobs. Yet we complain about a broken computer, the broken air-con, if the food is too cold or when we have too much work. Yet this amazing young women ...

Hi readers, This is going to be a short post because I just want to share with you a thought that I had the other day. So, yesterday during church I had a great realisation. I was sitting there (I don't know what we were talking about that made me think of this) and I thought to myself "I need to starting living in the moment." And I don't mean like Yolo. I used to think that it meant living for what will make me feel food right now, for what I want and desire in this moment. So I was kind of against the though of living in the moment. But I realized that's what I was doing when I procrastinated. By living in the moment I mean doing what is best for me right now. We all have goals in our life. We have daily goals; Finish my homework, Cook dinner. We have weekly goals; Study for this exam, keep the house clean. We have yearly goals; Finish with all As, loose weight. And we all have lifelong goals; Get my dream job, be happy with who I am. With those goals in min...

So, this is my first time being a missionary (And I hope it's not my last). But there was very little and I new about being a missionary when we first came here. So here are some of the things I was not prepared for when becoming a missionary. You will be lonely; Since leaving Canada I have learnt who my real friends are which has resulted in me letting go of some false friends which has been great! I have made a few really good friends that I have grown closer to. But it is very hard not being about to actually be with them. I can't hug them, have a coffee with them or laugh with them. I love them, but I do get lonely. We really appreciate it when people send us letters or emails, Skype with us and just don't forget about us! Things won't go as expected; Yes, that's right. Plans don't go to plan and some things just don't happen. It's hard when things are unpredictable but going into things we are learning to expect the unexpected. Sometimes plans w...

Dear Bully, Life is so beautiful. But some people make it their personal mission in life to make others loose sight of that. There are people who tell you that your not worth it; that you'll never amount to anything, that you're ugly or dumb. But despite what they tell you you are beautiful deep down inside the darkest chamber of your heart. I know that you are hurting but the hurt that you dish out could amount to something much worse than a cuts on an arm or a change in schools. Those words that you once heard from your father or 'friend', the ones that hurt you. ... will also hurt others. I finally got over you, you moved on from me, and I got your words. You gave me my battle scares and they have made me who I have become. In a strange way they are my one of my prized possessions because they are me. I have defeated your words and your laughs that lingered in the back of my mind for all these years. But others won't. Others will not move on, other people won...