Daily 5 - Year 2, Day 146

Today's Daily 5:

1. Laughing at my dad mocking some really bad soft rock/pop elevator style music that was playing in a store we were in together this morning
2. a cozy scarf and toque
3. a bus driver who actually turns up the heat
4. the intricate beauty of individual snowflakes (even if I hate that combined they make SNOW!)
5. peanut m&m's  
6. reasons to laugh
7. a very good appointment this afternoon
8. "Random Acts of Facebook"
9. wearing my hot pink crocs (a gift from my brothers for Christmas a couple years back, now resurrected to new life as my "slippers" at mom and dad's house)
10. reading a novel
11. a bubble bath
12. watching sessions from the Jesus Culture conference live via the internet

Daily 5 - Year 2, Day 145

Today's Daily 5:

1. Peanut butter toast
2. New episodes of Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice to watch online
3. a tasty salad for lunch
4. a restful afternoon
5. getting a whole list of errands finished
6. spending time with a friend, laughing, talking, eating
7. a new battery for my laptop - it's now possible for me to use the computer without a power cable - first time in a year! (essential since I'll want it for in class starting next week)
8. magic bags
9. helpful strangers when my friend's car was stuck in the snow tonight
10. weekend escape at mom and dad's

Apparently Not in Canada!

On my last day of work after Christmas, one of my final administrative tasks was to total up the inventory sheets that our volunteers had tallied the donated toys on, as they "priced" them and sorted them into age groups.

One would think that making a tally would be self-explanatory, right?  Four lines, and then a line through, making groups of five, for easy totaling at the end.

A few minutes in to my task, I discovered that this is apparently not as self-explanatory as I'd thought, and starting taking pictures, emailing them to a friend in California with incredulous comments.

Pictures like this:



And this one (it's hard to see, but they made check marks!):



And last, but not least, there was this:


This person counted in groups of six!

That last one was my final straw.  I sent it to my friend with a message that read "This one counted in groups of six! Do they seriously not teach this in school or something??"

I laughed out loud when her response came:

"Apparently not in Canada! ha!"

I've been laughing ever since.

Daily 5 - Year 2, Day 144

Today's Daily 5:

1. Spending time with my dad today, doing errands together as he prepares to make another overseas trip.  Errands with dad is one of my favorite ways to spend time with him.
2. Curly hair day again
3. Wearing my favorite jacket (the one that makes me feel beautiful) with my cute new hat
4. eating a Kit Kat bar in the middle of the afternoon
5. using my SAD lamp - it really does seem to be helping with energy levels and mood
6. Lime jello (I love jello, but smiled when lime finger type jello was the snack at house church tonight)
7. being back at house church
8. good conversations with friends
9. Encouraging comments from long time faithful blog readers (Hi Jenny!)
10. being with people who love me, and who are interested in my life, and getting to love them and be interested in their lives in return

An Update On Where Things Are At

I haven't talked much about my plans to pursue nursing for a while.  That's because everything has been up in the air as I waited to see if I was accepted into the program this go around.  I finally heard yesterday, and below is the email update I sent out to friends:

Hi All,

So, I finally talked to the nursing department today and confirmed what I'd already guessed - I was not accepted into the nursing program for this go round.  Instead, I've spent a good portion of the day sorting out the details around registering in classes as an "open studies" (basically undeclared) student, with the hopes that taking these classes will bring my GPA up enough to be accepted into nursing for a September entry. 

If I'm really honest, I'm fairly disappointed, and hurting a bit, but I still feel mostly peaceful.  I still believe that nursing is the path that God has directed me towards, and I believe that it will happen in his timing.

I'm choosing to see the five classes that I've enrolled in as simply a necessary step towards nursing.  In some ways, I feel like this is still God's way of creating time around me to continue to heal and become strong and whole before diving into the challenges of studying towards a new career path.

Please pray for me, too, as I begin to study.  Pray for diligence in me as I work, and for the ability to really retain and understand the material in the courses I'm taking.  There is a definite need to perform well in these classes in order that they do actually pull up my GPA and allow me to be admitted to nursing.

The rest of my life remains very much up in the air.  My short term contract at the Mustard Seed came to an end at the end of December, and I'll once again be looking for a job.  Please pray that the right job would present itself - one that will meet my financial needs, but will still allow me to devote the time necessary to study successfully.

And, my living situation remains incredibly tenuous.  I most definitely need to relocate out of Grandma's house, but my ability to do so will depend to a large extent on where I end up working, and what my income is.  Because I don't own a car, I'll also need to find something affordable that is easily accessible by public transit.  You can pray that the right living situation would also present itself to me.

I'd love to hear how each of you are doing, and I so appreciate your friendship and your prayers.

Much love to all of you!

Lisa