Tuesday, December 27, 2005

Christmas Time has come and gone...



Just some good Christmas times with friends. I miss Christmas already and we had it 2 days ago! enjoy the photos!

Wednesday, December 14, 2005

Personality Test

I decided to try out this "Personality Test" that I had found on Sharee's blog. Its pretty crazy how accurate it is for only 3 questions.
*****Your Personality Is******
Guardian (SJ)
You are sensible, down to earth, and goal oriented.
Bottom line, you are good at playing by the rules.You tend to be dominant - and you are a natural leader.
You are interested in rules and order. Morals are important to you.A hard worker, you give your all at whatever you do.
You're very serious, and people often tell you to lighten up.In love, you tend to take things carefully and slowly.
At work, you are suited to almost any career - but you excel in leadership positions.With others, you tend to be polite and formal.As far as looks go, you are traditionally attractive. You take good care of yourself.
On weekends, you tend to like to do organized activities. In fact, you often organize them!

To try the test yourself go to
The Three Question Personality Test
http://www.blogthings.com/threequestionpersonalitytest/

Let me know what you came up with on the test and whether or not you thought it was accurate!

Friday, December 09, 2005

can you believe it!

Just sitting her eating my lunch..which doesn't consist of anything healthy or nutritious or really tasty for that matter. I got stuck in the office for lunch today, and forgot to bring anything to eat from home (silly me). So now I am stuck eating pizza pops...pepperoni and cheese or something like that. They taste more like cardboard than pepperoni, but hey, I shouldn't complain.

I thought I would let you in on a little happening in our lives this past week that got me really fired up! We received a parking ticket ouside our house this week. $40, if we pay it in the first 14 days, $100 if we pay it after. Ouch. BUT...here is the reason we recieved the ticket. We live on the corner 2 streets. The street directly facing the front of the house is only 2 hour parking, and even for people that live in the residential area. If we wanted to park there, we would need to buy a permit, which I believe costs about $25 a year. The street that runs along the side of our house, which is where our entrance is to our basement suite doesn't have any restrictions. People are able to park there when they please. This is the street where we park, and where our landlord and recommended that we park. Especially becuase in winter, the only plug in available to use to run a cord to our vehicle is there. There is no plug in at the front of the house to run to our car if we chose to pay the $25 and get a parking permit to park there.
We have this slight problem though...we can never park next to our own house in our own parking spot. We have found it extremely difficult because we can't plug our car in for the winter in the really cold temperatures like this week. People from the City Hospital seems to enjoy parking along our street because A) it doens't cost them any money to park all day B) it is a block away from the hospital so its convenient for them C) by the way, did I say it was really CHEAP for them?
They take all the parking spots...and let me tell you, they wait for them too! We have people waiting behind us as we pull out infront of our own house to leave in the mornigns for work and steal our spots! They don't even live there! We aren't the only ones that live in the house either. We have 2 girls that live above us that have to park along the side of the street too.
So back to getting the ticket...we needed to plug our car in for night because we had been having car troubles and didn't want to leave it unplugged at all, just incase and becuase it was cold. But upon arriving to our house to pack it in for the night...there were no parking spots anywhere close to our house where our cord ran. The people in front of the house were horrible parked, wasting space and they didn't even live upstairs. SO...we had to park as close as possible, and apparently how we parked is illegal, so we received a ticket.
WELL...Stephen went into the City and wanted to fight the ticket. We wrote why and they are getting back to us. They have our ticket pending, so that incase we miss the 14 days...they don't charge us $100. The head of the ticket givers, and I'm sure he's a lovely man...is reviewing our reasons and our fighting response;) and will let us know whether or not we need to pay the ticket. I mean...what happens when it is -35 out and we don't have a parking spot? What do we do then? Get our landlord to install another outlet to plug into? We seem to be in a pickle, and aren't sure how to fix the situation other than put up a road sign saying "Stephen and Melissa's parking spot only".
As I was reading the paper the other day, I came across a funny story about parking tickets. A lady in Regina has been put into jail for owing $5000 to the city of Regina in parking tickets!
http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2005/02/14/regina-tickets050214
Its pretty crazy! I mean..technically it could happen to us..just keep parking to plug our car in and keep getting tickets..it would add up just nicely and we could get thrown in jail:) haha That would be the day.
If you would all keep us in your prayers and we get this whole car situation sorted out...the ticket AND the fact that our car still isn't running we would be so grateful.
Blessings

Tuesday, December 06, 2005

vehicle troubles and other things

These past 3 weeks have been frustrating to put it midly. Seems that our lovely little red volkswagon golf has decided that it detests the cold weather, and really who blames it! I mean...all of a sudden it goes from plus 5 to -21 in one night and the poor thing doesn't know what to think. I am convinced it has its own personality, and although it is just a car...I've come to realize it has quite a temper. Not only does it have a temper, it choses the most awkward and inconvenient times to flare up its temper and decide that she just doesn't want to work. But she just doesn't want to work for us...the mechanic on the other hand...I think she might be in love with him...because she purrs like a kitten everytime she ends up in the shop.
We've been praying and crossing our fingers everytime we get into her for the last 3 weeks, wondering if she is going to start and get us from point A to point B. I think that is the most frustrating part for us. We have been stranded numerous times in the cold, and it isn't anything close to fun.
The car is now in the shop for the 4th consecutive time in 3 weeks, and praise the Lord, they have been able to somewhat detect what she is making such a fuss about. My Dad has been SO helpful in this whole thing. He has been able to track down parts for us, and used ones, which makes the financial side of things that much easier. Our mechanic has been so generous and kind to us, and has been very patient. We have enjoyed working with him so much. (Little plug here for Import Auto...if you own an import car any of you and live in Saskatoon...take it over to Import Auto...John is a GREAT guy!).
We are hoping that this week we will be able to get our car back. Being carless has been a really eye opening experience for me. I didn't like it at all at first...the fact that I couldn't go where I wanted whenever I wanted. We have become so dependant on our vehicles that we aren't quite sure how to function without them. Although the weather is cold, I have enjoyed getting exercise and walking to work. Some days the long johns come out and it is a must to wear them. People have graciously offered us rides to and from youth group and church, and our parents have even leant us one of their vehicles one week, and this week a couple in our church willingly lent us their truck!
It has been a hard journey for me definitly. God is putting to test my trust in him...and my ability to praise him and be thankful in the times when things are unknown and frustrating. I find myself always looking at the negative things...like how bad the timing is, and how frustrating it is to get around without a car, and how I don't like asking other people for things.
It seems that God is using the things that he knows I hold on to the most on this earth, and teaching me to be able to let them go, and roll with the punches. To appreciate the things I do have, to lay down my pride and enjoy letting other people serve me by allowing us to use thier vehicles and giving us rides. God is ALWAYS faithful. He takes care of us always...and teaches us valuable lessons that sometimes we don't catch until after.
I guess I just think I need to be more willing to let God teach me and mold me in situations like our car. I need to say, "this is God teaching us" and let him teach. Instead I tend ot fight it the ENTIRE way...getting upset, being angry and feeling hurt and being worried about everything. His pan is perfect and if I ever doubt that he doesn't know what he is doing, I'm being foolish, because he knows EXACTLY what he is doing.