Ten Things

Ten Things I Need to Do Before Returning to Thailand in August 2015

It's March 12th, 2015.
I have not done much thinking about these 10 things that I still need to do. It should be easy even though this is the first time I've thought about this. So, here goes:

1. I need to finish my Psychology course through Athabasca University. This one is the most pressing. I am working on a paper for this course as I write this.
2. Go through my wardrobe and get rid of items I no longer want or need.
3. Go through my wardrobe and think about what I will want to take to Thailand with me. Luggage will be limited so I'll have to put some thought into this.
4. Contact supporters and supporting churches and together with Doug, schedule some church/supporter visits for April/May/June.
5.  Make a few more contacts with people in Chiang Mai re: housing once we arrive. We are hoping to sub-let for a few months at least.
6. Clean up the basement, throw away junk, go through all the totes full of stuff and organize! I will have to be brutal with this one because we want to rent out our place while we're gone and need to be able to put all our stuff into one locked storage room. I will also need to decide with our children (who have stuff stored in our basement) what they want us to keep, what they can take and what we can get rid of.
7. Along with visiting supporters, we also need to raise more monthly support. This will take some creativity and some help from others including the Wycliffe home office. May God bring those people into our lives.
8. Continue visiting and enjoying church friends here in Edmonton, including our amazing Home Group.
9. Enjoy love and laughter and spend as much time as possible with our family and also with extended family. THIS is always a priority and is easy to do!
10. Pray and continue to give the whole prep process to God. He is in control so I will let Him continue to be.

There you have it. My Ten Things for today. Now I better get working on meeting these goals.
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So, I didn't really know what to do with my page entitled "favourites" so I changed it to Ten Things. If you go online you can find pages and pages of "Top Ten Things....". I will glean ideas from these pages but for starters I will write from my own life.

Top Ten Things You Probably Didn't Know about Me (and since I'm a fairly new blogger, the list should be easy to write)

1. I was born on a bridge. Yes, Borden bridge, to be exact--about 8 km east of the little town of Borden, Saskatchewan. My parents were on their way to a family gathering of some sort and had to turn around to get back to the hospital in Borden. I popped out on the way, crossing the bridge. I LOVE telling this story to people. Here's a pic I took of the bridge:



2. When I was in Bible school (Millar College of the Bible) I played on a girl's hockey team. Yes, it's true. My friends and I bought guys skates (I still own a pair), we borrowed equipment from the guys team (sometimes very STINKY equipment) and had a ball!

3. Re: playing hockey. In my first year, our team was in the finals in the girls tournament. The game went into overtime. My roommate (who was the BEST player on the team, by far) went into the corner to get the puck away from an opponent. I skated to the front of the opposing team's net. Her pass to me was perfect and I SCORED THE WINNING GOAL in overtime. I STILL can replay that whole scene in my mind. Our team went wild. I was smothered in hugs. It was CRAZY!!!!! I can't explain what I felt at that moment, except to say that I mark it as one of the best single moments of feeling in my life to date. It was AWESOME!

4. 50+. No, I'm not talking about my age. I'm talking about how many plane rides I've been on. I actually quit counting at 50. That's part of my life as a missionary. LOTS of take-offs and landings. So many that I really DISLIKE flying. I used to get excited about it. Not any more. My final comment about flying: Ugh! And I'm not done either.

5. I LOVE languages. I am a trained linguist, even though I haven't used much of my linguistic abilities professionally for a while. But the training is still in me. I co-taught an undergrad Phonetics class more than once because I love language and all the sounds people can produce that make up words and languages. So amazing. I guess that's why my husband and I joined Wycliffe Bible Translators a long time ago.

6. I have a fourth child. Her name is Lydia but we call her Ye. She is a Khamti Shan girl that we "adopted" when we started working with this language group in Southeast Asia. We call her Ye, meaning eldest, because she is older than our official children. She lived in Chiang Mai for a while where we were living to receive training and to improve her English and she spent most weekends at our house. Even though we don't see her very often anymore, she continues to help us with our work and we continue to call her Ye. She is precious.

7. I like Sci-Fi. I read Sci-Fi. I watch Sci-Fi movies and TV. I am a total trekkie and started watching the original Star Trek shows when I was a teenager, even though nobody else in my home watched. Growing up, the shows were on TV on Saturday afternoons and so if I was home, I would plop myself down on the couch and enjoy the show. However, my favourites will always be Star Trek:TNG because of how they would weave social issues of the time into their shows. LOVED that creativity. Then came Star Wars and Lord of the Rings and...well, you get the picture. I know, that's Sci-Fi/Fantasy. But don't get me started on X-Files. Another show I'd watch all by myself if nobody else was interested. Funny though, I seemed to have gotten my hubby hooked as well. hehehe

8. Two of my favourite desserts: cheesecake and ice cream. Almost any flavour of both although my favourite ice cream is Superstore's peppermint chocolate crackle. Other than that and chocolate, I'm not really partial to food. It's not that I'm picky about what I eat. It's just that I don't crave food or generally get excited about food or going out to eat. Don't waste an expensive meal on me. I won't appreciate the gesture.

9. I am curious. Too curious my family tells me--always asking questions. In very quirky ways. But I feel I am in good company. Einstein said, "I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious." I wish I was as curious as Einstein. :)

10. I recently learned how to play the lap steel guitar. My father-in-law owned and played one. When he passed away 2 years ago, I asked my mother-in-law if I could have his guitar. Then I took lessons. I can't say that I'm good at it but at least I know how to play it now. And every time I play it, I feel a connection with my father-in-law. It makes me smile.

That's my Top Ten List for November 4th, 2013. Hope you enjoyed getting to know me.

1 comment:

Lovella said...

Loved reading these, Connie! So cool about the hockey goal memory! Was that when you were in your first year and Merle was your roommate?

As for Sci-Fi we definitely need to get you hooked on Dr. Who! I remember watching those Star Trek shows on Saturday afternoons. Great memories!!