in the words of jeremy camp

i will walk by faith
even when i cannot see
because this broken road
prepares Your will for me

it's becoming clear to me that i haven't fully surrendered my will to God. there is one big "high place" that i've had for many years now: speech-language pathology. i've wanted it badly and i expected that i would get it, and i allowed it rather than God to define me. but that road is broken right now and i'm coming to peace with whatever He has prepared for me. it may be that SLP is still in my future, and it may not be. but i know that whatever happens, God is in control and He has a plan--a plan that is better than anything i could ever dream of. for His will is "good, pleasing and perfect" (romans 12:2).

miscellaneous

i'm currently reading "a farewell to arms" by ernest hemingway. i've had it for a long time (actually, it belonged to my mom) and i've tried to read it several times but never got past the second chapter. now i'm on chapter XIII and still not entirely sure what i think of it. there are bits of italian in it and i don't know some of the words, but the story is starting to get interesting. american frederic henry has been wounded while serving in the italian army and he's waiting at the hospital for his british nurse friend miss barkley to arrive.

i have seven days of work left, officially. they may keep me on part-time for a few more weeks in september to finish up some paperwork and to close off the program. beyond that, things are still wide open. i've applied for two main types of jobs for after my current one: instructor-therapy for children who have autism and more employment-counselling related work. right now, at the non-profit youth job centre i work at, i am a summer job developer. on one end, i work with students/"clients", helping them to apply for jobs, critiquing their resumes and providing interview tips. on the other end, i also work with employers and help fulfill their hiring needs through job fairs and other means and i try to create more job opportunities for my students. so i've applied for more work along these lines and i guess we'll see what happens.

going camping/cottaging this weekend, next weekend is aletheia camp and the weekend after that is outlet shopping in the states : P i feel kinda bad asking for three weeks off of teaching piano, but...oh well. i'm looking forward to the break.

briefly...

i've been back from longlac for over a week and i'm only now finding some time to post a few words on it. it's been crazy busy from the moment i got back and any spare time i've had has been spent reflecting on the trip.

the kids were a lot of fun and it was a very cool experience to be on a first nations reserve. i've written a few letters to some of the kids that especially touched me: shaelyn, hannah and krystina. what i've come to realize is that with this type of missions trip where you're building relationships and planting seeds, the trip itself is short-term, but the missions has to be long-term. our team plans to keep in touch with the kids we met there by sending letters, emails and care packages. this way we can nurture the seeds that were planted and continue to love and care for them even though we're a 15-hour drive away.

wicked wedding yesterday! congratulations to holly and caleb. i know that the God-light that shines through each of you as individuals will shine even more brightly as you are united in marriage and in Him.