Thursday, December 31, 2009

2009..... so long!!!!!!!!!

A year in review!

Soooo it’s almost 2010 and I’m finding it hard to believe a whole year has passed by! I don’t know it anyone else feels this way but sometimes when I try to contemplate how time goes by it seems totally unreal. Like dreamy thing that didn’t really happen. And the speed that it went by is ridiculous!!! Shame!

So last year around this time I was oh holidays at my parents celebrating Christmas and new years. We had the whole shebang, fireworks and all and we were all together as a family which was awesome. We knew that this year I would be in Africa at this time; I had just got the confirmation that I was accepted by Botshabelo to come and so we knew that we wouldn’t be all together this year. So it was a special time. We had so much fun. Lisa and Riqui came aswell and we all had a blast playing games and carrying on!

After the holidays I started working and saving for my trip. Everything this year was focused on getting to Africa. I knew I was coming sometime in September or October and the planning began in earnest. Planning and saving. I had already done a bit of saving for sure but this time it was serious hardcore J

I also got into the Vancouver Island University and did my upgrading so that I could get into the LPN program. (Licensed practical nurse). I was one of the older students doing my Biology 12 and it was actually a lot of fun. I discovered my inner student after being out of school for 6 years and had a great time sitting at the back of the class and paying little attention but still getting good grade. J I passed with an A- grade and challenged my grade 10 math test and past with a higher than average score so I definitely felt that God blessed me in that. I’m now in line to take the course in 2010 if I so choose. I don’t know for sure what God had planned for me just yet but it’s an option now. Those three months while I took the course was hectic because I would work in the morning, go to school in the afternoon, and then come rushing home to work again till 9 at night. Then I would study in between. I did that schedule four days a week and it kept me very very much out of trouble!!! Lol

In May I took a trip for 10 days to Toronto to go to an LTT (leadership training time) with a whole bunch of churches relating to mine. I also got the chance to stay with amazing and wonderful friends there and we had the best time getting to know each other better. I ended up renting a car and three of us drove to Niagara Falls. It was totally stunning and awesome to see the splendor of Gods great creation!!!! Walking around the city and seeing all the old building and the history was amazing as well.

My sister got engaged early in the year and shortly after one of my best friends/roommate also got engaged. It became wedding madness all around me! Bridesmaid AND maid of honor in the same summer kept me very much out of trouble!! The spring was full of wedding dress shopping trips and all talk was either wedding or Africa. There wasn’t much else on our minds!!

My roommate Lisa and I had a hectic time at the first half of the year with our landlord. We lost our good awesome landlord when he sold the condo we were living in and the new landlord turned out to be very very very challenging. We had to start looking for a new place because of the trouble that he was giving us. We found an awesome one for the beginning of June and moved into the basement suite of the same house that another one of my best friends lived in. ahhhhh heaven to live with nice people again! With the move I didn’t bother unpacking all my stuff. In fact when packing boxes they were often labeled “don’t open till 2010” and then when my daddy came to help us move we put all those boxes into his trailer and sent them to Victoria to be put into storage till I came home again in January 2010. It was a very strange feeling I’m telling you!!! I can’t remember where most of my stuff is now and I’m just hoping that my winter clothes are with my parents so that I can bundle up when I get home. As I sit here writing this in my tank top and capris I know that in 12 days I’m in for a rude shock!

June and July were pretty much all dedicated to the weddings. Between showers and stagettes and other people’s weddings it was madness!! Lol. Sooo much fun actually!

This year was also the year that I got to try out a relationship. It wasn’t particularly successful…. (Still single ;) ) But it taught me a lot about myself and what I really wanted in life and a life partner. I used to have a conception that life would be perfect and amazing the moment I found someone, got a ‘boyfriend’, but actually, when it’s not the right person (which it wasn’t, only took me three months to sort that out, and a little help from my good friends! Lol) but when it’s not the right person it’s actually not good and worse than being alone. I was, at the end of the relationship, actually more unhappy than happy and when I did finally break it off, although I was completely heartbroken at first, I also knew an incredible sense of Gods peace fill me. So, it sucked at the time, but I’m glad I got the chance to sort that out and see for myself. In the end, I was always accountable to and eldership couple in my church and was totally protected in that way. God is so good and HIS love never fails.

August came with all its weddings and fun. The month went by super fast and before I knew it, Mary and Dallas were married and then Lisa and Tony. After their wedding, another one of my bestest amazing friends, Riqui, moved her little self to Edmonton, Alberta to start school there. And I moved out of my basement suite and lost my roommate. It was a hectic end to the summer and I’m not gonna lie to you, a LOT of crying was done! I moved in, for my last three weeks, to Mike and Tanya’s place. They offered their home up to me and let me live in their basement suite for the last few weeks before I left for Africa.
The last few things had to be done up including getting my visa and saying all my goodbyes and quitting my job. I applied at the beginning of the year to get the time off from work for my trip to Africa but the job I was in denied me the time. They said it was too long for me to be away as a casual employee. So I quit. I definitely felt Gods plan for me was Africa and so I know with all my heart that when I get back there will be something for me, something awesome! Then my car decided to die two weeks before I was to leave and that of course had to stress me out. Lol. Thankfully it was fixed for 100 bucks and I had amazing friends take care of me and I didn’t miss any work or anything so that was pretty awesome. I winterized my car and got it ready for my return and payed all my bills and put my cell phone on vacation disconnect…… every little thing that had to be done got done.

September 22 I left Canada and flew to South Africa. And you all know the rest!!! I’m on the tail end now of my time here. I leave in 11 days or so. It’s gone by like crazy fast and I hardly believe sometimes still that I’m actually here. This year has been amazing and full of adventures. Growing in God, building friendships, and doing awesome things!

I got to pet a lion and a crocodile this year people!!!!!!!

3 comments:

  1. Happy New Years, Gwyn. I loved reading your latest installment...especially the parts about me :) Hope you have a wonderful New Years. I can't believe you will be home in two weeks. We can chat again! Love you,

    Riqui

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  2. Happy New Year Gwyn,
    We are getting all ready for you. Got a closet organizer and a fridge today. You may be able to stay longer if you wish.
    Love,
    Dianne

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  3. Hard to believe what a person can pack into a year isn't it. Read your latest update made me think of Proverbs 29:18 “Without a vision the people perish.” To accomplish anything you must first have a mission, a goal, a hope, a vision. You had a vision pursued it. Continue to have visions/goals and as you seek His will, pursue them for in that you will be blessed.
    love M & D

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