Not Long Now

It's been quite the wild ride in the past few weeks. From the copious amounts of travelling I did over Christmas, to the studying I've done over the past few weeks, to preparing for Fiji, there has been no stop to my activities. In the midst of it all, God is faithful in preparing me for what is ahead, and giving me peace in the interm.

Christmas involved times with family and friends. Jordan was coming up to see me and originally planned that we would spend a lot of our time together ahead of Christmas. Unfortunately, that would have displaced a lot of people from their schedules and just made things fairly difficult. Fortunately, God had his hand in the matter and she was able to fly home to Kelowna, and it worked out that we spent more time than she planned together.

I made two trips up to Edmonton over the Christmas holidays, because I wanted to be here in Three Hills for my final Sunday. It gave me the chance to say goodbye as a pastor, and also to see through my duties till the end. The Christmas Eve service was fantastic, and we had nearly 200 people out, which is double what we normally get.

Christmas was spent with my family. We played Xbox, Skipbo, Black Queen and just enjoyed each others company. It's nice to have a family where you can get together and merely enjoy each other, not having to worry about disagreements, but knowing that there is mutual respect and understanding for the history that is there. It was refreshing.

Afterwards, I left with Lorelei, Orlando, Paul and Carys and drove most of the way back to Vancouver with them. Paul and I drove together in my Golf, and had some really awesome conversation through those 8 hours. When we hit Kamloops, I ducked south to Peachland.

The next 4 or 5 days were spent with Jordan. We laughed, saw James Bond, played games with the family, saw friends and got to know each other all over again. It's amazing how much we change in the course of three months, and even though we talked regularly, talking over the phone and internet is very different from seeing one another face to face. It was a great boon to the relationship, and yet another refresher for me.

On the 31st, I drove back to Edmonton, and let's just say it was one of the longest drives I've ever done! Not because of length, but about 7 hours into it, I was just dead tired. When I showed up at my Dad's place, I was safe and sound, but thoroughly exhausted! I'm glad that my friends decided to forgo the sleep over this year and just have a party till just past midnight. My bed was welcome.

The last couple of weeks have been raising funds, talking to friends, and lots and lots of studying. I'm hoping to get one of my courses finished before I leave for Fiji, and while it will be lots of work this week, I believe it's doable. That will put me in good condition to be finished my coursework for an April graduation. Time, however will tell if this is a realistic expectation, or if I'm being flighty. I hope it's the former.

The coming weeks will include flying out to Vancouver for some family time before I leave for Fiji. I leave 10:30 PM on the 25th of January to leave on the biggest adventure of my life so far. It will be challenging and it will force me to grow, but it's exactly where God wants me to be. And if God wants me there, I want to be there!

Family Rocks

Being home for Christmas rocks my world. It is so good to be around people that accept you for who you are, and who know you enough to have all the background. We've gone to movies, played games, talked, laughed, ate. It's good to be home. This is the kind of environment that I thrive for, to just be me and interact with others in a safe environment.

I'm heading back to Three Hills tonight, and I'll be there all day tomorrow. Dedicating a baby in the morning service, and helping lead the Christmas Eve service, and then driving back up to Edmonton. It's my last Sunday at Bethel, and it will be a great time to wrap up the loose ends.

And then next week, when the rest of my family leaves for Vancouver, I'll be driving most of the way with them, and heading south to Peachland to visit Jordan! She surprised me by coming up to Canada for Christmas break, and I can't wait to spend some quality with her and hear some of the stories she has from the first few months in Mexico.

It's going to be a great Christmas break!

And let's not forget I have the cutest niece in the world!

Back from Vacation

Howdy all!

Well, I made it back safely this past Thursday Night (technically Friday morning) and I had a blast. I'll post a little more about it in the next few days (seriously!) but I wanted to say that I just got into the Picasa Beta, so that means that I now have a web album. So I have a few photo's on there, such as from my birthday party, of my niece, grad, etc. So if you want to check it out, it's at http://picasaweb.google.com/stephenphilps.

Vacation

I'm now a little over half finished my two week vacation, and it has been a blast! I spent the first week with Jordan, and we did all sorts of crazy things together. Camping, Mining, Hiking, Randomly jumping into the lake, Salsa (yes, the dance :S) lessons, going to a fancy restaurant, etc. It was a lot of fun, and a god time to get to know each other a little bit better and talk things through at the same time.

I came to Vancouver yesterday, and have been hanging out with the family ever since. It's a fair bit more low-key than hanging out with Jordan. Current my sister and Carys are both sleeping and I'm watching Argentina and Mexico battle it out in Golden Goal.

Vacation has been incredible. It reminds me how key it is that we take the down time to spend with friends and most importantly God. We so often get busy working ourselves to the bone that we forget to stop and breathe for a bit. This is my breather, and I'm loving every moment.