Happy Birthday Daddy!

Unexpected Blizzards...

Being a Winnipeg girl, born and raised, a blizzard is no novelty. However when you are living in southern BC and it is only the end of November a blizzard comes as quite a surprise. You could tell that even the locals were surprised as I witnessed several of them trying to clear their driveways with a corn-broom.

My Outtatown site is currently staying for its second week at Stillwood Camp and Conference Center. It is a large camp about 45 minutes out of Abbotsford where a van of us drove to this morning to attend church. There is no internet at Stillwood so the fact that I am publishing this should give you some indication as to the severity of this blizzard. We had no hope or inclination of driving back up the mountain as snow was thick on the ground and semis were piled in the ditches all along the highway. But God doesn't abandon His people in times of trouble, and that's exactly what happened in this situation. Here is the full story:

Two vans from our site headed out to their respective church destinations, one to a church 20 minutes away in Yarrow and us to the Free Wind church in Abbotsford, but unfortunately just as we entered the city we found out that the church was closed due to blizzard. Determined to still go to some form of worship service we spotted a church that had another service starting at 11:15. We had about 45 minutes so we hung out at a coffee shop as the snow that had been lightly falling began to pick up intensity. From there we headed to this new church and enjoyed the fellowship and message that they had to offer. My friend Steve particularly had a great time because unbeknownst to him, his uncle attended the church. He left for a lunch date after the service while the most of the rest of us headed to the mall for a quick shopping trip.

After our pocketbooks had been emptied slightly and I had mailed some post we came back to a despondent Dana (our leader). We could not get back to Stillwood. In fact, as an aside, the other van headed by Jonny made it part way back from Yarrow when up the mountain the van could crawl up no longer and they had to leave it on the side of the road and walk the final several Km up the mountain in the deep feet of snow. Hmm, luckily for us Steve's uncle of whom we met on our chance church meeting offered to take us for how ever many days necessary. We did a quick shopping expedition for food and a few other essentials (contact juice and crest brush up...) and tried to make to Steve's relatives. This proved to be MUCH harder said than done.

Not only did many locals not have shovels, but many lacked the winter driving abilities or logic necessary to DRIVE. Quite literally, many attempted large hills with only front wheel drive and many MANY more seriously thought that pressing the accelerator harder meant they would actually go somewhere. They were wrong. We ended up pushing out several cars/vans out (and GENTLY informing hem how to drive). It was fun. What topped it off however was once we had nearly made it to our destination after multiple, multiple detours finding that access for the last 1 or 2Km was nearly impossible so we had to walk, and on our way down there was an ambulance stuck in the ditch. We piled up in the back to give more weight to the back and the ambulance fishtailed sideways for awhile and finally made it out of the ditch, it was ROCKIN'!

So here we are at Steve's uncle and aunt's and here we will stay until further notice. Everything is up in the air and everything is covered in snow and I wouldn't have it any other way. Here is to a week of adventure... I am so glad I bought some mittens at the mall...

CHEERS everyone, and if you are the praying type then I would like to take this time to solicit your prayers on our behalf.

Deep Thoughts

One thing kids like is to be tricked. For instance, I was going to take my little nephew to Disneyland, but instead I drove him to an old burned-out warehouse. "Oh, no," I said. "Disneyland burned down." He cried and cried, but I think that deep down, he thought it was a pretty good joke. I started to drive over to the real Disneyland, but it was getting pretty late.

Fear can sometimes be a useful emotion. For instance, let's say you're an astronaught on the moon and you fear that your partner has been turned into Dracula. The next time he goes out for the moon pieces, wham!, you just slam the door behind him and blast off. He might call you on the radio and say he's not Dracula, but you just say, "Think again, bat man."

Dad always thought laughter was the best medicine, which I guess is why several of us died of tuberculosis.

To me, clowns aren't funny. In fact, they're kind of scary. I've wondered where this started and I think it goes back to the time I went to the circus, and a clown killed my dad.

You know what would make a good story? Something about a clown who make people happy, but inside he's real sad. Also, he has severe diarrhea.

When I was a kid my favorite relative was Uncle Caveman. After school we'd all go play in his cave, and every once in a while he would eat one of us. It wasn't until later that I found out that Uncle Caveman was a bear.

I think a good product would be "Baby Duck Hat". It's a fake baby duck, which you strap on top of your head. Then you go swimming underwater until you find a mommy duck and her babies, and you join them. Then, all of a sudden, you stand up out of the water and roar like Godzilla. Man, those ducks really take off! Also, Baby Duck Hat is good for parties.

A funny thing to do is, if you're out hiking and your friend gets bitten by a poisonous snake, tell him you're going to go for help, then go about ten feet and pretend that *you* got bit by a snake. Then start an argument with him about who's going to go get help. A lot of guys will start crying. That's why it makes you feel good when you tell them it was just a joke.

I remember that one fateful day when Coach took me aside. I knew what was coming. "You don't have to tell me," I said. "I'm off the team, aren't I?" "Well," said Coach, "you never were really ON the team. You made that uniform you're wearing out of rags and towels, and your helmet is a toy space helmet. You show up at practice and then either steal the ball and make us chase you to get it back, or you try to tackle people at inappropriate times." It was all true what he was saying. And yet, I thought something is brewing inside the head of this Coach. He sees something in me, some kind of raw talent that he can mold. But that's when I felt the handcuffs go on.

-Deep Thoughts, by Jack Handy

Things are going well for me here in Victoria. I had a birthday recently and it rocked, and right now I am at the library "doing a research project". The important thing is I survived living near East Hastings last week in Vancouver.

While in Vancouver I got to see Nelly and she gave me a wicked-awesome UBC hoodie (in brown to add to my collection!) and we (Emily, Nelly, Kaite) went for a night on the town on my birthday, which included much nonsense that can only be not reported here. As an aside, but also getting back on topic at the same time (yes, I am in dire need of some more sleep), Kaite purchases many books, like books by Jack Handy. To date she has secured Deep Thoughts, Deeper Thoughts, and Deepest Thoughts. These are excepts from Deep Thoughts, but trust me, they only get......"better".

No, I am not dead...

So many of you have been emailing me, wondering whether I have dropped off the planet or something, but I haven't...obviously. Internet is hard to come by and time is limited.

So for in the past week we have left Winnipeg and the Manitoba area in search of mountains and warmer weather. We have found the mountains but there is definitely snow. Last week we stayed at Pioneer Ranch Camp in Alberta and on Sunday the guys and girls split ways and us girls are spending girl/guy week in Banff!

Not meaning to give the "my life is so luxurious and awesomer than your's" vibe, but I actually don't have time for many specific stories or anticdotes because we are leaving tonight to go to the Banff Hot Springs in just a few minutes...yeah...but don't worry, not every week will be this way. I will get down to work eventually.

In fact, I learned recently that my 18th birthday will be spent in East Hastings, Vancouver! Yeah-ghetto yo! Oh, but speaking of ghetto, my site (all 3 girls sites are together for this week) cleaned up ("we were H-core -yo!") during tonight's rocking hip hop lesson. I know some of you are raising your eyebrows but I'll be honest, it was fun and hilarious! My favourite part though was definitely the ride here, Kaylynn and I sung all the words (well actually Kaylynn sang ALL and I got MOST) and rocked out to THE TIME WARP! It was CRUNK! Oh, but I also can stall (hip hop move) and that also rocked!

Fun other thing we did, yesterday we celebrated Christmas and our PMG (peer mentoring groups) bought each other "secret santa" gifts for a Christmas gift exchange. We definitely sang Christmas carols around the fake SHRUBERRY and we all got candy canes at the end!

Hopefully some pictures will be showing up soon (eventually). PEACE OUT!

Additional Information

In my rush yesterday to ensure that I did not infringe on any body else's need to use the computer I forgot to link to some very important sites.

I DO have a basic (although not completely comprehensive) schedule which can be found at the outtatown website. Also pictures of SITE THREE will be found shortly!

Today I cleaned up in a game known as horse-knight-cavalier along with my buddy Ben.

Also more and more people are thinking that I am CraZy...

I am really intensely enjoying getting to know everybody and I think I might actually know all 41 names (yes-that is 41 including my own self...just so you know...) and I can hardly wait until I know all 41 people (yes-I am including myself again...) so much better! So far everybody has been really great and group dynamic can become highly amusing yet I still think that we are all here for some intensely amazing relationships and growth with one another and with God and truely that facinates me.

On a totally other tangent while most who know me know I have a friend Sean, you may not have understood my reference and grateful-ness towards Thoreau. Hopefully this will clarify!

Gone

Today is the first official day of my post-secondary teachings, and it has taken me all the way out to a place called Pinawa. For those of you who I have not revealed my year's plans...or for those of you who just forgot, I have started a one-year program with CMU (the Canadian Mennonite University) called Outtatown (formerly S.O.D. -School of Discipleship).

So far (and again I repeat this is my first day!) it has been sweetly awesome and I am very excited about the things that God will teach me and that my new SOD buddies will teach me throughout this coming year. I think that I am the baby of the group....my 18th birthday is coming up November 3rd, but most of the people are just out of high school or just one year out anyway so it is not like there is a significant age difference. I have friends (and you know who you are) who have just recently had the 4th baby daughter (congradualations even though I already said that by the way!) so yeah....I'm pretty sure I am not making a whole lot of sense right now but hopefully that does not matter.

Have I mentioned that I didn't get very much sleep...also cookies...there have been several consumed today...most containing various forms of sweet sweet chocolate!

Anyway, while I am here you may wish to write to me, and while the addresses keep changing as we move around quite frequently I will try to post them as soon as I know. Currently I am staying in PINAWA (whoot....oh yeah, you know what I am talking about...) and the mailing address is:

Emily Blunden (Outtatown)
c/o Wilderness Edge
Box280
32 Burrows Road
Pinawa, Manitoba
R0E 1L0

And I will be here from September 13th-20th, although I believe I am also returning here for the week of September30-October 6 for another different week of instruction/etc.

Canoeing is next week and will be awesome.

I will be trying to update with my whereabouts/whatdoings as often as possible but it is likely to be fairly sporadic.

Final thoughts:
I brought too much stuff, although bringing an EXCESS of too much stuff was narrowly averted thanks to the warm words of wisdom from Thoreau and Sean (thanks Sean).

Miss you!

Showering...Will Never Be Quite The Same Again

Today the plumber came and installed the showering devices in the master en suite. As you can plainly see there is not one but TWO shower heads in the shower!

I was pretty excited about this new discovery and so I promtly decided to break in the new hardware. Now; I HAD heard that one person is not actually supposed to use both of the showering heads at the same time, but when you're living in the lap of luxury that saying tends to become overlooked. That said-it was magical!

I have a bad feeling this is not going to be a one time occurance.

I also have a bad feeling that South Africa will do everything in its power to eradicate my newfound partiality!