Saturday, November 28, 2009

Kettle Update!

My last post was a bit of what I love about doing kettles... Well, I'd really like to blog each week about things that happen whilst I'm on kettles... Here goes! =)

This week went by really fast!!! I've chatted with so many people, had prayers answered, and had a really great time! =) Some of the things that people say really touch me =) Here's some examples:
As a lady puts in a handful of dimes, nickels and pennies: "I ran out of loonies and toonies, but every little bit helps right?"
One of the Superstore employees, seeing me there for the third day in a row: "Don't you ever go home? ;)"
A little girl that put a loonie in this morning said, "Merry real Christmas!!!"

Being on kettles is a great opportunity to make connections with the community!!! I've had little chats with so many different people about different things! Here's some stories:

One lady that came by on Thursday told me she will always give to the Salvation Army because when she was 6 or 7 she started going to the SA church that was on Marion (it's not there anymore...), and that is where she went to her first Sunday School classes!
Another girl that had finished her shopping had no cell phone and no quarters to phone a taxi, so she came to me and I let her use my phone. She was so grateful, and she put her whole change purse worth of pennies and nickels into the bubble!
A man asked me what rank I was in the Salvation Army, and we had a conversation on what the ranks are in the SA and how they compare to the real army. But I was also given the opportunity to explain to him that we are in spiritual warfare, and we - the Salvation Army - are fighting for peoples' souls!
Another guy that donated put his hands on my shoulders and said, "God loves you!!!" and I nearly fell off my chair with excitement as I said back, "God loves you too brother!!!"
Emmanuel is the Superstore host (the greeter at the front door) that has been there almost everyday that I've worked, and we got talking about how he will always give to the Salvation Army because they helped his family back in the Philippines with the flood that happened this year... Lol he also calls me Miss Salvation, when I get there in the morning he's like, "Good morning Miss Salvation!" He puts his pocket change in the bubble every morning after I get set up, and he always does a cute little dance lol... =)
A couple who are both on disability put in a toonie each because the Salvation Army has helped them and they want to give back!

Prayers have also been answered!!! Each morning when I set up the bubble, I pray over it, asking God to bless it and to fill it... Sometimes I ask for certain things, and today I prayed that someone would put in a $20 bill. Between 9-1, THERE WERE FOUR OF THEM PUT IN!!! My biggest prayer right now (since day 1 actually) is that I will see a $100 bill put in the bubble...
I've been asked by so many people where my bells were and why I wasn't ringing them... I wasn't given bells, I assumed that it was because Superstore had said they didn't want them so the staff wouldn't get annoyed at the constant ringing so I hadn't said anything to my boss... But yesterday, a gentleman bought me some silver bells!!! It was a big red bow with some bells hanging down, cost $3, and he brought it to me (with the receipt to prove it was paid for), and said, "There you go, now you can ring your bells!" So I took the ribbon off and played with the strings the bells were on and made a sort of bell ringer LOL hey it works! What amazed me about this story was how much the bells mean to people! "Kettles just aren't kettles without the silver bells!" is what one person had told me...
I also had a lot of people ask me for a sticker to put on their jacket to show other kettlers that they had already donated... One guy even said that there's two benefits to the stickers: one, it advertises to other people that hey, they should go donate, and two, it does let other kettlers know that they've already donated and so they won't feel guilty as they walk by the bubble. One woman even came up to me the other day and showed me that she had a mini calendar because she had donated and she didn't want me to think she was being cheap. Another lady came to me today and asked for a sticker for her jacket because she had donated before and only got a calendar (she showed it to me lol).

Speaking of people feeling guilty... haha... I kinda feel bad for making people feel guilty... As a kettler, I make eye contact with people and smile at them, and sometimes it makes people feel guilty and so they'll donate... I do not, in any way, want to guilt people into donating... I love smiling at people because when they see a smile, it's a natural reaction to smile back, and I LOVE seeing people smile!!! In sociology class I remember learning about the "dog face", which is when your face is relaxed, which makes you look grumpy (because you're not smiling...), and so many people coming through the doors are wearing their dog faces (or they are actually grumpy lol...), and it's amazing to see the transformation of a dog face to a smiling face, to see their whole persona just brighten up!!! There are some people that walk by that look like they would NEVER smile, but then they smile, and I'm like, "WOO!!! =D"

As much as I completely love this job though, I am VERY glad for a day off tomorrow =) For one, working 6 days in a row where I basically just sit for 4 hours on a bar stool isn't that great for the body... And second, I get to go to Weston!!! =D And this week is the first week of Advent, can you believe it??? AND the band is playing now (because it's Advent...), so I get to pull my clarinet out again, woop!

Anywho, that's all I have for now... This next week is looking pretty good
Sunday: church, play practice
Monday: kettles 9-1, dyeing Shayani's hair (whether or not she decides to go through with it, I'll tie her down if I have to... =P)
Tuesday: kettles 9-1
Wednesday: kettles 9-1, coffee date with Sherrie @ 2, pool @ 7:30 (though I gotta be at Players by 6:45 cuz we're away this week...)
Thursday: ketles 9-1
Friday: kettles 9-12 (woop!), Smitty's @ 3
Saturday: kettles 9-1, Smitty's @ 3

For now though, it's bedtime!!! =)

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Kettles

I've been doing kettles for almost a week now (I started last Thursday), and I must say that I love it!!! There's so many aspects of doing kettles, I look forward to doing it all again the next day! I'm currently working Mon-Sat 9am-1pm at Superstore McPhillips, and it is awesome!!!

I think the thing I love the most about doing kettles is hearing peoples' stories. I've had mostly good stories, and one bad one that really bummed me out... This lady refused to donate and told me her story: her husband was sick at Seven Oaks Hospital, and she parked in the Salvation Army Thrift Store parking when she came to be with him. The thrift store staff then towed her car and it cost $85 to get it back. But before I could even say anything, she was gone. It broke my heart because she is now so blind to all the good the Salvation Army is doing! I can still hear her last words she said: "THAT is what the Salvation Army does for people..." I wanted to cry!!! I wanted to run up to her and show her my tears, and tell her MY story of what the SA has done for me and for many people I've met over the years! And I couldn't, she was gone...

But I've also heard many awesome stories of how the SA has helped people! Mostly people have told me about how the SA helped them or their parents/grandparents when they came back from overseas... One gentleman told me of how the SA helped him when he arrived back in Halifax from Yugoslavia. Another lady told me how she will always give to the SA because of how they helped her grandparents. Every story I am told fills me with so much warmth and love!

I think the biggest reason I've heard from people on why they donate is because it is such a good cause! It really is, and it excites me to seee people opening their wallets to help others! One gentleman today put a loonie in the bubble, and he said to me, "This is all I have, I can't afford much more because I can barely afford to feed myself..." There was another guy who came by yesterday who fit the homeless stereotype perfectly: dirty, a bit smelly, clothes full of holes... and he came by and put a quarter in the bubble and left. I was shocked, I almost fell off my stool!!!

I think my favourite thing to see is when parents give their children some coins to put in the bubble. I love hearing seeing the parents taking the time to teach their children about helping those in need!!! It's so cute when the kids ask, "why is she sitting there?" and their parents explaining to them that it's for the poor. Oh my gosh, the other day I nearly cried because this little girl came and put in a loonie that her mother had given her, then her mother explained what it was for, and a few minutes later she came running up to me because she found a nickel on the floor and she wanted to put it in the bubble. She said to me, "They need it more than I do...." LOL I wanted to wrap this little girl up and the biggest hug ever!!!

Sure, this job can get boring sometimes in between the stories... The last half an hour of my shift tends to feel a lot longer than a half hour... But it is sooooo worth it!!! Lord, bless the people who donate, touch the hearts of those who don't, but most of all, multiply and use this money for Your good!!!

Sunday, November 22, 2009

"God on the Mountain" Lynda Randle

I learned a new song at church this morning! It's called "God on the Mountain" and although the only version I could find is gospel, the way we did it this morning was slower and more thoughtful I found... The words really hit me today, it was such a wonder to just stand there and listen, it was beautiful!!! Here's the lyrics:

Life is easy when you're up on the mountain
And you've got peace of mind like you've never known
But things change when you're down in the valley
Don't lose faith for you're never alone

For the God on the mountain is still God in the valley
When things go wrong, He'll make them right
And the God of the good times is still God in the bad times
The God of the day is still God in the night

You talk of faith when you're up on the mountain
But talk comes so easy when life's at its best
Now it's down in the valley of trials and temptations
That's where your faith is really put to the test

For the God of the mountain is still God in the valley
When things go wrong, He'll make them right
And the God of the good times is still God in the bad times
The God of the day is still God in the night

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Hot Chocolate and Eggnog =)

I'm sitting here at the kitchen table sipping on some - you guessed it - hot chocolate with eggnog, so delicious =) But I haven't just been sitting here, I've been thinking... Thinking about all the stuff I should get done: fold my clean laundry, catch up on "Heroes" and "House", finish Sherrie's project, figure out what to do for the last two projects I need to get done by the end of next month (then after those, I have Florence's eight grandkids' names to stitch, another project...), and that's only stuff to do in my spare time...

I've been thinking about what I really want to do in terms of a job... I do love working in the kitchen, but I'm seriously getting very tired and frustrated with Smitty's... True, I did get things worked out with my kitchen manager about shifts, so I may stick around a bit longer to see how things go now... And right now I'm doing 15 hours a week on kettles (though the girl that was supposed to take over after my shift backed out, so I'm trying to see if I can get a few more hours...) I think that if things at Smitty's work out the way I hope (I was told I'd be working Thursday-Saturday evenings, which is great cuz Thursdays are busy wing nights and Fridays are busy dinners....), I should get at least - the very minimum - 10 hours a week, but hoping for more like 15... plus the 15 hours on kettles (maybe more?), that should be good =)

But kettles only go until December 24th, and so I'd need to either work something else out with my kitchen supervisor, or find another part-time job. I do have my name in at the daycare that runs out of my church as a casual, but I need to get the paperwork done for that... Right now up til Christmas - because of doing kettles 5 days a week - I'm really only available Fridays, which I told the director that... So I was thinking after Christmas, if I could get set hours at Smitty's - a couple day shifts and a couple evenings - then I could give a couple more days of availability at the daycare...

But speaking of Christmas, Christmas is coming up, and it's coming up FAST!!! I'm not exactly sure what I'm doing yet, but I'm pretty sure I'll be going to my aunt's for Christmas dinner - it's a family tradition =) But I need to get at least cards for my aunts/uncles/cousins/grandmother... lol... And something for my mom... She does have her wishlist up on her fridge, but her fridge is at her house, and it's not like I'm there all the time... ;) I think though that I'll stop by there on Saturday before work and take a quick peek... As for Christmas morning, I'm not sure what I'll do, if I'll spend Christmas Eve at my mom's, or if I'll go over around noon or something... I don't know, I'll work it out with her when the time comes lol... I think I'd prefer to just go over on Christmas rather than spending the night...

Christina's going home for Christmas (though I'm not exactly sure when she'll be leaving and coming back...), and Debby has decided to stay here for Christmas (she was debating whether she wanted to go home to Ontario or not), but Debby will be going to Shayani's for dinner, so I'm kinda hoping we can spend Christmas Eve (or if Christina leaves earlier, then an earlier date...) together as a house... We are planning to have a Secret Santa here with a limit of like $15-20... But I guess we'd have to get on that, picking names, so we actually have time to go shopping!!! =P

Well, I think that's about it for now... So to end this post, I have a picture! Tonight I was working on Sherrie's project at the kitchen table, and when I looked up, I saw such a beautiful sunset, the clouds were all pink and pretty!!! So I went upstairs to the bathroom (which is the only upstairs room that has a window facing west), opened the window and took the screen out to get a great shot! And since it's so hard to capture the actual colour of a sunset, I played with the colours a bit on my computer to get a better image of the beautiful colours!!! =)




Monday, November 16, 2009

Pumpkin Recipes!

Between last night and today, I have handled about as much pumpkin as I can stand... LOL who am I kidding? I LOVE pumpkin!!! =D Last night I started with getting out the seeds and cutting/peeling, but couldn't finish cuz I was getting picked up to go to the Robin Mark concert (which was AWESOME by the way, check out my pics on Facebook!), so I finished cutting it all up today. I boiled it, drained it - by the way, pumpkin holds on to a lot of water! I had to put it all through the sieve TWICE because even after pressing through the first time, there was still a lot of water in the bowl with the pumpkin! So anyways, I was super amazed at how easy the pumpkin mashed, it was sooo soft after boiling it, I pretty much just used a spoon to squish it lol...

So by the time I got the pumpkin ready to actually use, and everything was cleaned up, the kids were here (Monday afternoons kids come over after school to hang out with Debby for a couple hours, they're awesome!), and we usually feed them, so I made pumpkin pancakes and scrambled eggs for us all... They were really good, the girls that were here (there were only two that came today because the rest that usually come have H1N1) really liked them! =)

Side note: speaking of eggs, we get eggs from Winnipeg Harvest (unclaimed eggs where Debby works, so she's allowed to bring them home for us, woohoo!), and I cracked one open to use for the pancakes, AND THERE WERE TWO YOLKS IN IT! TWO! IN ONE SHELL!!! hahahaha I had never seen that before!

Okay, back to pumpkin... After the girls left, I made some pumpkin cheesecake! I haven't tried it yet because it has to be refrigerated for at least 4 hours before being sliced and it's only been 2... But even after the pancakes and cheesecake, I still had a full cup of pumpkin left, so I made cookies!!! =D I had to half the recipe cuz it called for 2 cups, but I still got 2.5 dozen, which is good! and they are DELICIOUS!!!!! =D they are a soft cookie, and you can really taste the pumpkin in them, it makes me happy =)

And because my friend Alison has requested recipes, here are the recipes I used tonight:

Pumpkin Pancakes
1 egg
1 cup milk
2 tbsp oil
1/2 cup pumpkin (but I used a full cup)
1 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp ginger
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 whole wheat flour
Combine ingredients, mix until blended. I like to cook my pancakes in a frying pan, but I'm sure it'll work if you have an electric griddle or something...
Serves 2-4

Pumpkin Cheesecake
Crust:
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup melted margarine
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
Mix and press into bottom and sides of pan. Bake 10 minutes @ 350F
Filling:
12 oz (1 1/2 pkgs) cream cheese
1 1/4 cups sugar
3 tbsp flour
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ginger
3/4 tsp vanilla
4 eggs
3 cups pumpkin
Beat cheese, sugar, and flour in large bowl until creamy. Beat in remaining ingredients until smooth. Pour over crust. Bake until knife in center comes out clean (mine took about 1.5 hours). Refrigerate at least 4 hours before slicing. Keep refrigerated.

Pumpkin Cookies (this is the halved recipe that I used, I didn't add raisins or nuts)
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup pumpkin
1/2 cup oil
1 tsp vanilla
2 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ginger
1 cup raisins (opt.)
1/2 cup chopped nuts (opt.)
Mix sugar, pumpkin, oil and vanilla. Sift dry ingredients together; add to moist mixture and stir until smooth. Blend in raisins/nuts. Drop by teaspoon on lightly oiled baking sheet. Bake at 350F for 12-15 minutes.

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Gots Me Some Wireless!

That's right, we now have wireless internet in the house, so I'm gonna make an effort to blog more often! =)

As for tonight, I don't have much to update... And considering it's 4:06am, and my bus to get to church in the morning comes at 8:55, I am gonna head to bed... Gnight! =)

Sunday, November 1, 2009

"You Won't Relent" Jesus Culture

You won't relent until You have it all,
My heart is Yours
You won't relent until You have it all,
My heart is Yours

You won't relent until You have it all,
My heart is Yours
You won't relent until You have it all,
My heart is Yours

I'll set You as a seal upon my heart,
As a seal upon my arm
For there is love that is as strong as death,
Jealousy demanding as the grave
And many waters cannot quench this love

You won't relent until You have it all,
My heart is Yours
You won't relent until You have it all,
My heart is Yours

You won't relent until You have it all,
My heart is Yours
You won't relent until You have it all,
My heart is Yours

I'll set You as a seal upon my heart,
As a seal upon my arm
For there is love that is as strong as death,
Jealousy demanding as the grave
And many waters cannot quench this love

You won't relent until You have it all,
My heart is Yours
You won't relent until You have it all,
My heart is Yours

Come be the fire inside of me,
Come be the flame upon my heart
Come be the fire inside of me,
Until You and I are one

Come be the fire inside of me,
Come be the flame upon my heart
Come be the fire inside of me,
Until You and I are one

I don't wanna talk about You like You're not in the room,
Wanna look right at You,
Wanna sing right to You

I don't wanna talk about You like You're not in the room,
Wanna look right at You,
Wanna sing right to You

I don't wanna talk about You like You're not in the room,
Wanna look right at You,
Wanna sing right to You

You won't relent until You have it all,
My heart is Yours
You won't relent until You have it all,
My heart is Yours

You won't relent until You have it all,
My heart is Yours
You won't relent until You have it all,
My heart is Yours

I'll set You as a seal upon my heart,
As a seal upon my arm
For there is love that is as strong as death,
Jealousy demanding as the grave
And many waters cannot quench this love

Come be the fire inside of me,
Come be the flame upon my heart
Come be the fire inside of me,
Until You and I are one

Come be the fire inside of me,
Come be the flame upon my heart
Come be the fire inside of me,
Until You and I are one

There's nothing we want more
There's nothing we want more
There's nothing we want more

There's nothing we want more
There's nothing we want more
There's nothing we want more than You Jesus!

Come be the fire inside of me,
Come be the flame upon my heart
Come be the fire inside of me,
Until You and I are one

Come be the fire inside of me,
Come be the flame upon my heart
Come be the fire inside of me,
Until You and I are one

Another Break-Up? =(

Well, for those who know what's going on with a certain boy, things have just taken another turn...
I was at his house on Friday cuz he had a Smitty's staff party thing, and I crashed at his place cuz I wasn't gonna bike home in the wee hours of the morning after drinking...

So early early early Saturday morning, after everyone else had left, he told me that he loves me. And the day that I broke up with him was the day that he was gonna tell me... And he wanted to be back with me...

One of the big problems that I had with this, was that I still love him too. But between the time we broke up and now, I had learned to love him as a friend, and now he has reopened that love that I had for his as more than a friend...

But the main reason why I had broken up with him was because he does not follow Christ. For me, dating is a prep for marriage, and to date him would be like seeing if I could spend the rest of my life with him. But I cannot marry someone who is not a Christ-follower because we would not be on the same spiritual journey, and that is hugely important to me.

So I had to tell him over and over that night that we could not be in a dating relationship because I need to follow Christ. But I did tell him that I love him, and he questioned it... I told him that I love him so much, more than I've ever loved anyone else I've dated, but I love Christ more and that's why we can't be together...

To someone who doesn't know Christ, this is not fair. I totally see where he's coming from... But I just wish he could see where I'm coming from... This is killing me because I've hurt him so much, because of my own rebellion against God in choosing to date him in the first place, I have hurt him in a way that nobody else could. I feel absolutely horrible...

And I feel like if there was even any chance of him coming to know God, I've completely pushed him away. I think that's the worst part of this all... ='(

Please keep us both in your prayers, we need it desperately...