here, there and everywhere

Proud to be Canadian - Lindsay, Cole and Chris in the T-dot.

This past weekend, I was in Toronto visiting some friends, and applying for a volunteer visa from the South African consulate-general. I met a couple of new people, and it was hard for me to answer the question "so where are you now?" Sometimes I just said, "RIght now I'm in Toronto..." because it's kind of hard to know where I am at this point in time! I've been living at my friend Stephanie's house for the last week, helping her get ready for her wedding on Saturday - but I took a little vacation to Toronto for a few days - and before that, I was in Clinton, house-sitting for my parents - and after the wedding, I'll be back in Clinton for a couple of weeks before I fly away to South Africa again. So I'm moving around a lot. But I really like it. I love visiting with friends, catching up - especially when it seems like nothing's changed since we saw each other last. I got to see Nicole and Chris, which was so much fun... and it's been great hanging out with Steph, Kyle, and Kyle's sister Lauren. Tonight, Lauren and I decided to make dinner to give Steph and Kyle some more time to make phone calls and whatnot. We decided to make tuna casserole, and while we were frying the veggies and boiling the noodles, we preheated the oven to 400 degrees. After a few minutes had passed and the oven was nearly up to the desired temperature, I smelled something funny and there seemed to be an extra amount of smoke/steam coming out of the stove. I opened the oven and the smoke came billowing out. We looked around the room, and there was thick smoke just about from floor to ceiling! We spent a good fifteen minutes opening the windows and fanning the smoke out. It was so thick that it actually hurt our throats and eyes! Eventually though, we had the situation under control, and we were able to wipe off the gooey mess from the bottom of the oven that had been made by Kyle's amazing mocha kahlua cheesecake. Other than that little fiasco, the tuna casserole was a success. My friend Scott that I met in Dawson City joined us, and it was great to see him again. He's one of Kyle's groomsmen, and I'm Stephanie's maid of honour, so we're both pretty excited to be a part of the festivities. I know it's going to be a fantastic wedding... it's so much fun to help Steph get ready. There are so many things to think about. So many little time-consuming jobs that you'd never think about when planning a wedding, like writing out place-settings and making seating arrangements for the reception... it is a LOT of work! Oh man. I'm excited for the whole day, but specifically for the dance portion of the night... I've never been to a wedding reception that had a dance!! I made a CD of dance music today, and I'm just so pumped. It's just like Steph said - “AND OF COURSE there had to be a dance - What's the fun of getting fun fancy dresses if you can't twirl in them?” Amen, sistah. Speaking of the dress situation. That was interesting. I sent in my measurements over the phone while I was in South Africa. I borrowed a random measuring tape with unmarked units, so I had no idea what I was giving. But I thought, “heck, I’m basically the same size as Steph. Just use her measurements.” Well, it turns out that Steph’s waist is a little bit smaller than mine, and when I tried on the dress in the shop, it took two people to do up the zipper, and I felt like I was wearing a corset - not that I’ve ever worn a corset before, but I’m sure that’s what it would feel like! I couldn’t even breathe properly. No matter though - “I’ll just get it altered,” I thought to myself. So I brought the dress home and showed it to Mom. She looked concerned. “Lindsay,” she said, “this is next to impossible to alter. You’re just going to have to lose some weight.” Well, I was pretty mortified at the fact that I’d have to give up cookies and bread for the next month. But I didn’t really have a choice. So off I went to New Brunswick, and I tried really hard to eat salads and get some exercise. For the first week, at least. When I got home again, I decided to get a second opinion. I very sneakily took the dress over to my seamstress neighbour’s house, and she told me the exact same thing. “Oh no. This dress is impossible to alter. You’ll have to order another one.” I haven’t told my Mom this in person yet, so if you’re reading this, Mom - you were right. As usual. Anyways, I tried on the dress the next day, just in case my little diet had some effect - and guess what? It fit! Not exactly like a glove - well, maybe those mini-mitts that are supposed to be “one-size-fits-all” but really are too small. The dress is passable. I probably shouldn’t have eaten that cheesecake today, but... I went for a long walk this morning, so... it should be okay. :) How can you pass up home-made cheesecake?!

So I’m going back to South Africa at the end of the month. I applied for a volunteer visa and they said the documents look fine. It was quite a hectic experience trying to get everything together for that. It’s not easy - but it’s worth it! I can’t wait to set foot in that beautiful country and hug my favourite children. I’m busy support raising, both financial and prayer - and it’s actually pretty amazing. I was really worried one day about money. I prayed a lot about it... and the only thing that I heard was, “It’s not about how much money you have. It’s about how much you are willing to give from what you have.”(2 Corinthians 8:12) So I said, “God, you know best. Just tell me what to do. I surrender this anxiety up to You.” And my friends, God is good and faithful. That night, I visited some friends, and they offered to support me financially(I didn’t even ask!) AND, they offered to purchase my entire RETURN plane ticket with air miles they’d saved. What the heck? I am so blessed!!

So I’m going for nine months. I feel it’s a pretty good amount of time. I’m going to be on staff at Jeffrey’s Bay, working with the Artist Discipleship Training School. I’m so excited. That will bring me up until about January, I think. We’ll see what happens then, but I’m hoping to volunteer with a lady who runs some programs for youth at risk(better known as street kids). We’ll see what happens, and of course I’ll keep you updated.

Well friends... that’s about all the news I have for now. Thanks for reading, and please keep me posted on the happenings of your lives.

Love to you all,
Lindsay