wake up billie joe

goodbye september.
what a weird month it was.
it started off great. my birthday, brianne and arlen's wedding, nice long weekend with the friesen family. then on the 7th, things got strange. the company i worked for was having some issues, so in the middle of the day, they kicked out their employees and locked the door. that happened to be the day that means was heading out on tour - i figured i might as well join them since work was on a hiatus. so we hit the road. from banff to winnipeg and everything in between. a lot of laughs, good times and memories later, we ended up back in regina where i found out that the company had been seized by revenue canada. (did you catch it on the news? fraud, jail time, missing accountant.. straight outta the movies)
officially unemployed.
and out 2 paychecks. yikes. not the best time to be flat broke and in debt. but its been good in a sense. definitely has me living simpler and re-evaluating want vs need. and hey, it'll all work out, right? bahaha. you know when something crappy happens in your life and you're just lookin for a bit of time to wallow in the suckiness of the situation, but everyone just keeps saying 'oh, it'll work out'; 'trust god'; 'don't worry about it'. of course i know it'll work out in some way or another. of course i know god's got it under control... but it sure sucks right now and the glass is half empty so let me just be grumpy for a bit... don't worry, i'm over it and a-ok with it all now, feel free to encourage me all you want. i promise i won't give you a dirty look (sorry to anyone who was on the recieving end of that look a few weeks ago..)
anywho. last weekend i got to volunteer at a friendship retreat for refugee women and children. such a cool experience. i met some really great women (and adooorable kids) who have overcome so much hardship and tragedy and are smiling so big just to be in this country. helping out with the kids program definitely gave me a taste of what it will be like in kenya as far as language barrier goes. but hey, smiles, hugs, laughter and high-fives are universal, so i should be ok.
here's a pic of one of the kids who stole my heart last weekend. this is andre. he is from congo and came to canada 5 months ago with his brother and 4 older sisters after their parents were killed. oh man, his smile makes me melt.


the rest of my september has consisted of sleeping in, finishing up final preparations for my trip, spending some quality time with aaron before i go, battling the flu and doing some odd jobs like painting wilf's house. doesn't seem like i did too much, but the month sure flew by.
and that brings us to october. and 11 days til my departure date. woo wee. i'm excited. i'm scared. i'm nervous. i'm a lot of things. mostly just pumped to have this awesome opportunity to serve god, to serve kids, to serve the least of these. thank you soooo much to all of you who have been praying and encouraging and supporting me. maybe if you could continue to pray for everything to work out, for safety and that my plane doesn't crash (note to self: don't watch plane crash movies two weeks before you fly...), for rent money and for the 45 other employees who were suddenly left jobless with bounced checks. thanks so much. xo