Current Read

Kitchen Table Counseling: A practical and bibilical guide for women helping others, Muriel Cook and Shelly Volkhardt

Question of the Day part II

Okay, so I posted my questions/anwers and now I need to think up MORE question for the Ontario tour...HELP!!!

Anyone got any questions?

Question of the Day

One of the "roles" that I adopted as leadership on the Christian College and University fairs was providing the question of the day. Seriously, it came about totally by accident. Let me explain. Julie and I had been asking random questions on the bus, one of them being 'if you were an animal, what would you be and why?' That sort of random. Well, that night at our event, I decided we needed something fun to distract us so I asked EVERYBODY. All the recruiters and even some of the students. It was a fun distraction - fun for me to see the conversations spurred on because of my randomness but also interesting to learn about my fellow travellers. You can learn a lot about someone by asking something that random! From that night on, of course, they expected a question at every venue...not that I minded all that much.

Of course, they expected me to have answers to the questions I asked too. Go figure. In my current state of self reflection, it was interesting for me to find that I learned a bit about myself by my answers.

Question: If you were an animal, what would you be and why?

Answer: No, I'm not a flamingo and I won't stand on one leg so you can decide!I decided that I would be a koala bear (or a panda bear) because they are soft, cuddly and cute ('cause I'm cute) but feisty when they need to be. Plus, they eat relatively healthy stuff and live in warm places. I like warm. One of the girls added that they're a somewhat motherly too. I could add that to my description. They don't call me 'momma stacey' around the college for nothing!


Question: If your life is a TV show, what would the theme song be?

Answer: "Waiting for the World To Change" John Mayer, from the Continuum album...'cause I'm resltess and feel like I am waiting for the world to change...looking for my part in the process

Question: If you were a cartoon character, who would you be and why? Which cartoon character best reflects your personality?

Answer: I choose nemo. I like a little bit of adventure and am more than a little bit curious, asking "why" and learning all I can. Like Nemo, I feel lost and lonely a lot of the time but I know my daddy (abba Father) is always looking out for me.



So does anyone want to share their answers to these questions? I'm curious now. Or, if you have a good question, I might just be game!

CCUF west photos

Okay so I finally got the pictures up...even before I got my laundry done!

They're in three parts but are all at the same spot.

If you still have photos for me to add, just email them over and I'll get them included.

Enjoy!

Gridblog Mystery

Okay guys, so I've been away for a while and haven't had much opportunity to be snooping around the blog world to find out what's been going on. I confess, I've missed a couple Fridays. However, now that I'm home and it's Friday, I've realized that there just doesn't seem to be a topic for me to ramble on about. I don't have any question ideas right now but would sure love to chat with y'all about something...any ideas? Gridblog topic anyone?

Current Read

The Devil Wears Prada, Lauren Weisberger

CCUFairs West

I'm home again after travelling Western Canada with the Christian College and University fairs. I've been back in my office listening to the sounds of students in the halls. It's good to know that some things never change.

Anyway, it was a great trip! What a privilege to travel with 30 brothers and sisters in Christ from across the country who are also involved in the same work - recruiting for Christian higher education. I could say so much but it's probably safer to let the pictures do the talking. After all, a picture is worth a thousand words!






Well, once again blogger is causing issues as I try to post pictures. Pretty quick, you'll be able to see more at my shutterfly account.

Current Read

Inside My Heart: Choosing to Live with Passion and Purpose, Robin McGraw

Only In Abbotsford

Maybe it's just me, but I've never, ever seen these before:

Lay's potatoe chips in Curry flavor!!!!

I thought it was the funniest thing...my fabulous friend Kelly figured there was a blog post coming on...so here it is!

Current Read

In the Heart of the World: Thoughts, Stories, and Prayers (Mother Teresa)

Westward bound

Well, so far we've been in 3 provinces and only have one more to go. I don't know how many miles via bus this. All I know is that it's been 8 venues, lots of days on the bus and I don't know how many miles, far too many Denny's meals, lots of granola bars, church on the bus, praying together, laughing together, chatting together, just plain old being together as recruiters who understand what this life is about, and coffee. Phew! I'm tired...and there's more fun to be had!!!

Congrats Smytty!

Okay, so, preparing for teaching the professional development sessions on Thursday night, I missed the Edmonton-San Jose game. While I was sad to miss the game, I knew I needed to work on the session (which, by the way was such a good thing for me). I didn't realize how much I'd missed until our orientation meeting with the whole team on Friday night, when I heard, from a friend of mine who had been at the game that:

Ryan Smyth scores a natural hat trick, the fastest hat trick in Edmonton Oiler history, just over 2 minutes, beating Wayne Gretzky's previous record, scoring his 500th and 501st career goals and helping the Oilers take the lead! Seriously! How do I miss these things!? Not to mention that they came from behind 4-1 to win it 6-4 and that San Jose, favored to win the cup, just creamed Calgary earlier in the week. I hate missing things like that...

But I wouldn't have minded missing this! The Eskies lost to Toronto again to sucessfully eliminate themselves from the playoffs. That stops the longest run of successive playoff appearances in the CFL at 24 years. How do you go from winning the Grey Cup one year to missing the playoffs the next?!

Ah, at least there's hockey. I'm off to watch Edmonton and the Avalanche in my hotel room!

Goin' to Winnipeg...

Say it like the commercial. Come on, you know you want to. Yup, going to Winnipeg. Actually, I'm here and it's cold. Not just "Winterpeg" cold like some people call it but "Winderpeg" cold. Because of my slight stature, people sometimes joke that a good strong wind would blow me away. I didn't believe that was possible. Now I do. Me and a whole cart of luggage, boxes and display material. It can be done. And it's cold. Did I say that already!? There's even some of that white stuff on the ground...you know what I'm talking about...my momma told me not to use the "s" word or she'd wash my mouth out with soap.

Things are coming together. Tomorrow Tim Kantel (the amount of similarities between the two of us are kindof freaky actually!) and I are going to present for the day. Who would have thought just 3 years ago that I'd be teaching people how to do my job!? Not I! Wish me luck. Off to prepare...

On the Road Again...

Could be an old country song...or it could be my life. Sometimes I feel like a travelling salesman...oh wait a minute...hmmm...okay, if anyone's interested, here's my travelling plans for the next couple weeks. I'm off with the Christian College and University Fairs. Here we go...

Thursday, Oct 12 Calgary to Winnipeg…travel and prep
Friday, Oct 13 Winnipeg Pro-D Training Day for 1st Year Recruiters
Saturday, Oct 14 Winnipeg Grant Memorial Baptist church
Sunday, Oct 15 Regina Celebration Lutheran Church
Monday, Oct 16 Saskatoon Saskatoon Christian School (2 events)
Tuesday, Oct 17 Saskatoon to Edmonton…driving day, pro-D sessions, etc
Wednesday, Oct 18 Edmonton Millwoods Christian School (2 events)
Thursday, Oct 19 Lethbridge Park Meadows Baptist Church
Friday, Oct 20 Calgary Masters Academy
Saturday, Oct 21 Calgary First Alliance Church
Sunday, Oct 22 Kelowna Trinity Baptist Church
Monday, Oct 23 Burnaby Carver Christian High
Abbotsford Northview Community Church
Tuesday, Oct 24 Surrey Pacific Academy Christian School
Wednesday, Oct 25 Abbotsford to Calgary…flying home!

What's interesting is that on this one, I'm more than just a representative for Alberta Bible College. I'm also representing Christian Higher Education as a whole. I'm representing, for a lot of the people that I'll meet, obedience to Christ and submission to his will when that my look much different than what the world expects. I'm also a leader among my peers. This time, I'll even be a bit of a teacher (I hope!). I feel the responsibility of this and am excited by the challenge.

I'm sure I'll have stories and pictures to post along the way!

Happy Thanksgiving

It was so nice outside on Sunday that I made my family take pictures. We haven't done family pictures in forever! Look how cute we are!!

My sister, Tara.

Me! My brother took it and I'm convinced he's a miracle worker. I don't typically find myself overly photogenic but I actually like this picture!

My brother, Cody.

I've said it before but this year I'm reminded again just how thankful I am for my family.

Gridblog: Thanksgiving

So I mentioned in an earlier post about my mixed feelings about Thanksgiving - I'm thankful for a day set aside but I'm saddened that we need to set a day aside in order to be thankful. Does that make sense? Anyway, I've faced this reality in my life. Over the summer, I made a commitment to myself to find at least one thing to be intentionally, deliberatly, thoughtfully thankful for every day. My confession is that it has been a hard thing to do consistently. It's not even just the hard days that it's difficult but the good days and the in between days. It's just hard to take the time and remember that I'm not in control, I am thankful and choose to recognize the Giver of Good Gifts. So I'm thankful for a day to stop and be thankful and again choose to be more intentional in every day. For this thanksgiving, I'm thankful for (in no particular order):

• my family - that we like eachother, that we're all still on this earth and can spend time together, for the support and care we provide for each other and for continued health in the midst of struggles. After the year our family has had, it's hard to take this for granted
  
• for Jesus and the life that He bought for me by His death
  
• for opportunities to partner with Him in restoring the kingdom
  
• for the gifts and talents He has given me and for opportunities to put them to use
  
• for my church family and for the risks we have with starting a new church community
  
• for the students at ABC - it's amazing how intwined our lives have become. They grow on a person...kind of like mold...the penicillin producing, good kind
  
• for my coworkers at the college and the team that's building
  
• for good friends
  
• for a great roommate and a beautiful home to share
  
• for hope 'cause even when things are crappy, there's something to look forward to
  
• for music...ah music
  
• and for silence
  
• for the great outdoors and the chances to get away from the city to be in it
  
• for sports
  
• for good books
  
• for children
  
• for a country that's not at war (and I pray for those that are)
  
• for the freedom to speak freely
  
• for summer, for the sun and for warmth (I hate the cold) and for a fireplace in the winter
  
• for coffee
  
• for food in general, let's be honest
  
• for technology that makes staying in touch a little easier
  
• for creativity
  
• for my car
  
• that God's in control
  
• that I'm not...and that I'm learning to accept that
  
• for having so many things to be thankful for
  
• for chocolate
• and that Edmonton beat Calgary last night. I love Roli the Goalie!

Gridblog for Friday

There's no surprises here. This week we're talking about what we're thankful for. Stay tuned. We're blessed people so it's bound to be good!

Let the games begin...

I feel a little weird writing this post. Most of the blog posts I've read concerning this have been the men excited and the women complaining about losing their husbands but here I am finding something good about the fall - the NHL begins again. Last night the fun began. Ottawa beat Toronto...surprise! Are there still Toronto fans left in the world? Poor, poor, hockey fans. It didn't really feel like a real start though. Tonight's the night for me - Edmonton and Calgary face off at home...and for anyone who might be confused, that means they're playing in Edmonton.

Thanksgiving comes early for the Sparshu family

No, I'm not talking about dinner. Our family got some terrific news this week and, since our family is well overdo for some good news (it's been a pretty rough year!), I couldn't wait until the actual holiday to share. Is it odd to anyone else that we have to actually set aside a day to be thankful? Kindof sad, isn't it? Oh, but I digress...back to the good news.

Just about a month ago, my dad had surgery for prostate cancer. He's been healing well and has seemed to be more patient through the healing process which is all good news. Of course I could be making assumptions on the patience part since I'm almost four hours away and hear stories via phone conversations but again, I digress. Back to the story. Here's where the really good news comes in. This week he went for his follow up appointment with the doctor and I think we were all relieved to hear that everything looks good and as far as they can tell THE CANCER IS GONE and everything is clear!

Our God is the great physician!

This makes me appreciate my momma!

"Cause she loves me more than this (and a whole lot of other things too)! Okay, so maybe I just have a warped sense of humor and really enjoy Pearls Before Swine. They even have books. What would be better than that.

The Cross Examination of Oliver Finney, Randy Singer

A Passion for Fullness

That's what I've been longing for lately. Peace. Joy. Rest. The abundant life. Instead I feel this restlessness. Like there's more to life than what I'm living. Like this life, as it is, is not enough. I don't mean to be ungrateful or grumpy but I just feel like there HAS to be more. My prayers have been for this abundance that Christ has promised us - not for a "happy" life or for even better circumstances but for the ability to live a life of joy as Christ intends for me. Chocolate can't provide that (although it is a nice distraction from time to time). All of that is just a preface to the real post going on here. Check out what I read as I was getting ready for the day today:

"God's purpose in pouring His holiness toward us through His Son and by His Spirit, is to save us:

to restore all that has been eaten away by the locusts of sin;

to refill all that has been eroded by the streams of unrighteousness;

to rebuild all that has been broken down by the destructiveness of hell's operations;

to recover all that has been decayed by the works of the flesh."

(from A Passion for Fullness)

Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me by Your generous Spirit.

Psalm 51:12

That's both a prayer and a promise of which I can be assured!