Boarding

I am boarding in 20 minutes.   My flight is suppose to land in Chicago around  9:30 central time.   I am hoping to be back in the central Illinois area around 1:00 - ish.    Can't wait!!!

Dream

So the other night I had a dream that I was Skylines Nursing Home (where Grandpa Baurer and Aunt Jane are at) decided to move to Tremont IL and moved into the house we were living in. But it wasn't quite out house it was a random house we were renting but that I didn't recognize (the odd way dreams are). Anyways it turned out that Skylines moved into the same building that we were living in I was really excited about that. I was thrilled because I didn't have to worry about time, gas and anything like that any more - I could just go visit aunt Jane and Grandpa anytime I wanted.  Then I woke up.  I have to be honest, I have never felt so disappointed - never so sad from waking up from a dream.   It was odd, I've never been so excited about something in a dream before - it's very odd.

Devotions at McDonalds

So in our SLI class today we had Mike Beecraft.  He finally decided to try something with our (huge) class that he as done with previous classes. He took us to McDonalds to do our daily devotions.  Twas a lot of fun, though McDonalds was a bit full, but all worked out and we got good food while we dug into The Word.

Hair Cut

So last night I got finally decided that I didn't want to deal with my hair any longer. It was a pain to comb and especially a pain to wash.  I didn't want to waste the money of going to a professional so I figured that my razor should do just fine. This first picture is the before hand hair:

So, after I attempted to use my razor on a small-ish portion on the side of my head, I found out that it was going to make me completely bald.  This next picture is the side of my head that I tried cutting with my razor - all of the hair next-to and above (to the right) is gone:

I decided that I could deal with being bald, but Laura didn't think so. She went and got Jim's mom's clippers (she use to be a hair dresser) and volunteered to cut my hair.   Now it's not quite a low as I would of liked it, but I can say I am pretty sure that it's way better than being bald.  I love not having several inches of hair sitting onto of my head, and now my hair is so easy to wash.  This picture is the final result. It's hard to tell how short it really is from this angle. Currently it's only about an inch long (it use to be at least 3 inches long before).

Thank you a ton Laura for taking the time out of your evening to cut my hair!

Christmas in Concert - Woodstock

Here is a video I made that gives a very quick summary-Preview of Christmas in Concert (at the Woodstock Campus - at the Bloomingdale Campus we had lots of different costumes, a much larger stage and many other things, but the shows are the same).   It was a lot of fun  -  this one, the Woodstock Campus, is from Yesterday (Saturday).  The whole show was 15 songs/pieces, plus 4 singalong carol songs, plus a number of short videos (as transitions), totaling about 1 hour and 15 minutes.  This video is only about an 18th of that:

Christmas in Concert -Bloomingdale

Here are some of the pictures of last weekends performances at Koinonia Bloomingdale's Christmas in Concert:

Backstage with Olaf:

Go Pro's view from behind the drums. All four showings were 'sold' out 

(it was a free show though), they had to turn down hundreds of people every

show because 1) there wasn't room and 2) more people would have broken the

fire code for the auditorium. Each show we had 700-800 people in the audience:

What people think Backstage always looks like:

What Backstage normally looks like:

Above the stage views:

Here you can see the Choir on the far side of the room next to the stage. 

The orchestra was on the other side of the stage (hidden from this view of the camera):

Notice Olaf on the screen (they were showing the teaser for

Frozen where Olaf blows his nose off)

Notice Olaf and Anna dancing on the far side of the stage.

"Let it Snow" was being sung at this time:

Update

Well, I've been a bit busy this past week (again).  It is starting to hit that I have lots to do and very little time to do them.  This past weekend was Christmas in Concert (I am hoping to have a few pictures soon).  It was a lot of fun to put on, and since I am working backstage, I have seen the show nearly a dozen times - and I would love to see it more. Tomorrow is my chance to see it a few more times. Koinonia's other "branch" in Woodstock is hosting their Christmas in Concert and I will be working backstage again.  I'm looking forward to it in most ways except that it will take up my entire Saturday - which I need to read my book.  Oh, my book. It has hit me that I have procrastinated again and now I have till Thursday to read the 247 page book (Understanding the purpose and power of Prayer Earthly License for Heavenly Interference by Dr. Myles Munroe) and write a book report on it (about 4-6 pages long).

Sunday I started serving in the Cafe.  It's actually kind of fun - I had a really easy job of just filling up  coffees when people ordered them (thankfully I wasn't put on something like Mocha's or Hot Chocolate where you actually have to do a lot of work - but this week I might have to).

Today I will be serving in Grades 5 & 6 in Koinonia's Christian Academy (KCA).  I don't know what to expect since last Friday I was exempt from it to help set up for Christmas in Concert.  Last month I was suppose to be in Grades 3 & 4 but I din't do grades 3 & 4 at all - the first week in November we were doing something that I don't remember, the second week we were at Axis, the third Friday I was moved to Grades 1 & 2 because they need more help and the last Friday in November I was again move because of the need for more help else where, but this time it was to the Kindergarten class.

Fundraiser

So today has been a bit stressful. In addition to the lack of sleep (was at the church till midnight last night doing C in C practice), several things happened.  Well, we (our SLI class) had a meeting after class about our Missions Trip Fundraiser coming up in January. It was suppose to be a family/activities night type thing.  We got together today and discussed what activities, games and food we will be doing/serving, along with that we all got roles that we were responsible for and who is speaking about what at the event.  We left (it seemed everyone was a kind of excited about it) with that we will be meeting again with our leaders on Tuesday.  By then we are suppose to have talked to people in our area to get things more figured out for each of our rolls.  After the meeting was dismissed Daniel and I went up to talk to Oto to get some information about our Trip. 5 minutes later we come down to find that more than half the class no longer wants to do the event, and instead just want to do a movie night.  Their thought was that the amount of work put into the event isn't likely to get enough money coming in, whereas a movie night - with, say, 5 movies playing and $15 tickets would be less work and more likely to get the money.

Personally I was, and am really looking forward to the activities event. I think it is a wonderful idea and kids will love it (some of our thoughts include pie in the face, cardboard tunnel maze, games in the gym, cake walk, and much more).  It will actually attract kids and parents.  There are other things involved in my petition too, but this is a big part of it. I don't think that a movie night
1) is as inviting (yes we may get a wider range of people, but we would loose some direct focus - I think)
2) it doesn't seem as personal to be supporting the cause
3) I don't think that we will raise that much money (the event is in the afternoon on a Saturday plus we will have the tickets somewhat high)
4) there is little to none personal interaction for the supporters to interact with us going on the trip.  You don't go to a movie to bond, you do activities together to bond.

I think the plan right now is to present both opinions to our leaders on Tuesday and get their opinions.

I would love to hear your thoughts...

Your Comments

Just a quick not to all you who are following my blog. I have had some trouble lately with someone spamming the comments of my blog. Because of this I have turned on "Comment Moderation" which filters all comments through me before they are published.  I love to hear what all y'all have to say and I will try to get you comments published asap.  - Just so you know why your comments may not appear right away.

God's Not Dead

...

Let love explode and bring the dead to life

A love so bold to bring a revolution somehow

Now I'm lost in Your freedom

In this wold I'll overcome 

My God's not dead

He's surely alive

He's living on the inside

Roaring like a lion

Let hope arise and make the darkness hide
...

(Newsboys: God's Not Dead)

400 Hours

Yesterday I hit my mark for being at Koinonia (in the Building) for more than 400 hours since coming to Canada in September! I am currently at 403 hours in total.  

Upcoming C in C week

Just a heads up, I don't know if I will get much blogging in this week because of C in C.  I have practice I think everyday this week, and then 5 performances this weekend.  I will try, but I don't know how busy I will be.

So Much Sleep

So, I had Christmas in Concert (C in C)practice again tonight, but I feel/felt a bit to week (and sick) to go.  Also I slept through when I should of left had I felt well.  After sleeping more than 14 hours this morning I figured it nearly impossible that I could get any sleep tonight let alone this afternoon.  Knowing that, or so I thought, I decided that my body needed a bit of rest. So I laid down for a nap at 3:15, knowing for sure that I wasn't going to get any sleep.  I was suppose to email the people in charge at C in C to let them know that I wasn't going to make it for practice, and I was planing to do so when I got up.  Well I finally dosed off and woke to a beeping of my phone. My phone informed me that Jim had texted me 20 minutes earlier informing me that supper was ready.  I looked at the time, and by golly it was 6:30pm.  Immediately I got up and went and emailed the C in C guys (C in C practice started at 6:00pm).  Then I went up to get some food.

Laura had made Rubens.  They were actually pretty good. The only ones I have ever had before were at Culvers, and I only had them because I didn't know what a Ruben was - I am not an onion person, generally.  Though, it seems that Canada is making me into more of an onion person than the USA did.

Not Feeling Well

Well, my health wasn't the best this morning, it seemed a tad, just a tad better than last night - I wasn't coughing at every breath.  But I still felt miserable. So I stayed home form SLI sick today.  It's kind of a suspicious day for me to stay home sick.  Bryce is in Class today doing budgeting, and he made it very clear that we were not to come to SLI today if our budget wasn't up-to-date.  I told him that I was sick and stuff and he seemed okay with that.

I was able to get a lot of rest though.  Other than getting up at 7:10am and Going back to bed around 7:45am, I got up at 1:15pm today. I got to bed last night about 11:30, so I got about 13 hours of sleep.  When I got up, I only got up to use the bathroom (in the last 40 hours I have drunk more than 7 water bottles and 6 full cups of water - in attempt to help with my cough).  But when I came up, Laura offered to make me some Fresh Lemon and Honey tea to help with my sore throat.  That helped  a lot I must say. It took a while to get it all down, it was very tart for it's just hot water, 1 squeezed lemon and a couple teaspoons of honey mixed together.  As I was finishing up, Laura made me a sandwich for lunch - Thank you Laura, it was very good and helpful.

I am hoping that I will be healthy enough to go to Christmas in Concert practice tonight, but I don't know for sure.  Please continue praying that God will heal my body.

Sunday Craziness

Sunday Morning:

Praise God once again! He gave me peace when teaching the Preschoolers.  It actually went pretty well, I used some props (scroll, confetti, little stuffed people, and some little toys) that really helped keeps kids attention. There were lots of kids rolling all over the place and not paying attention, not to mention the 2 or 3 kids either sitting or playing in the back of the room.  But over all it went quite well. God has given me some joy with helping these little preschoolers, and even though I came into the class (4 weeks ago) dreading it, I now am very sad that this was my last week with them.  I would love to help out more with them.  In December I will be doing the Cafe.

Sunday Afternoon:

Second service ended around 12:30 and I quickly went back to the SLI room to eat my lunch. Why? Because Christmas in Concert practice stated at 1:00.  For Christmas in Concert (a Christmas show Koinonia does for anyone who wants to come - its free- it's like Koinonia's Christmas Card to the Community) I am a Stage Hand. My job consists mostly of running things (stools, mic stands, chairs, risers, etc...) on and off the stage between each song/section.  I am part of 3 who do this. Another one of my SLI classmates is also a Stage Hand, but she has been dubbed the Queen of the Mics.  She is in charge of all the mic stuff. Everyone that goes on stage has to get a different assigned Mic Pack number, Mic In-Ear cord number, and Mic number.  She runs all of that.

Sunday Evening:

Twenty20: Koinonia's Collage age group.  We had our Twenty20 Christmas Party.  It was a very formal party I would have to say.  Us SLI's got to attend this party instead of help out, though we got to help clean up afterwards.  The had a meal catered (us SLI's got our $20 ticked paid for us - part of our tuition) and the food was oh so good.  Fabulous!  Oh, and the huge chunk of Cheese Cake we got for desert was beyond good expression.

Sunday as a whole:

My health wasn't the greatest on Sunday.  By the time the Twenty20 Christmas party rolled around I had a pretty nasty cough. By the end of the night, every time I breathed out I had to cough - it was miserable (especially during the speech and prayer at the end by Brian, Twenty20's leader).    

Prayer Request

Prayer Request

A few things; one, I get to teach the main Lesson Sunday for Preschoolers.  There is relatively quite a bit to the story and such, and it seems like a lot to go through. Could you pray that I can have peace again and that the kids would behave and be engaged? Secondly, my health.  I've had a cold the past few days and I don't know if it is really getting any better.  I have a bad cough, sore throat, shortness of breath and some headaches.  Not only that, but I have to get my allergy shot next week and I have to be healthy for at least two days (I think) before I can come in to get my shot -my shot schedule is already crunched to be able to make it back for more stuff over Christmas.  And next week I won't be able to get much rest, since we have Christmas in Concert practice almost everyday of the week (a free Christmas program that Koinonia puts on) and between Friday, Saturday and Sunday next weekend I have five hour-and-a-half to two-hour performances to do (I am a Stage Hand).  So would you also pray that my body/health can be completely restored, Lord willing?   Also that I may have peace for this coming week and weekend with all the crazy schedules and such; that it may also me stress-free and calming?

Harvest Notes

Seek the Lord and His presence continually.

God knows all.

God is righteous and true.

God never, never, never makes a mistake.

God is peace and joy.

God is good.

Glory in your God!

Seek His presence continually

long for Him, prioritizes Him

3 Steps to seek His presence continually:

1. Encounter - look for and find Him

2. Exalt - worship, celebrate Him - lift Him up 

confession - surrender to Him

3. Engage - Where should I go to glorify Your Name?

Remember all His wondrous works.

Give thanks to God. Sing to Him.

We depend on God.

We count on His character 

("call on His Name")

Keep our eyes fixed on God

Remember what He has done

(Give thanks to our God)

Be Patient with God

Don't get ahead of Him

What has God done in my life that I could give Him thanks?

- Harvest Bible Chapel (July 27, 2014)

Prayer Request

Prayer Request:

I have had trouble remembering things over the past month or so (dates, Sunday messages, things in class, etc...). So I have been asking for prayer to help me remember things. This morning God showed me that my memory is directly linked to my focus, and I have had a very hard time staying focused lately. While I was wondering why I lack focus God again showed me. He showed/reminded me that over the past few years I have let me mind wander.  Through this wandering I have build up this huge world in my head largely dealing with wealth, fame, fortune, and other unhealthy things.  Now I find that my mind constantly will go into this world. It is like this fantasy world has become real in my head and it seems to have become like a safe place.  I find myself in prayer, or in the Word and the next thing I know, I am in my little world and I have no idea how I got there. 

So I ask that you can pray for me as much as you can. I want this fake world gone. I don't want to use it as refuge. I find that this world is taking my focus off God.  I want to completely surrender my mind to God, but I can't seem to do that with this world there.  I can only do it with God's help. So please pray for me. Thank you.

Snow

Soooooo Excited! We got at lest 4 inches of snow today/last night.   It's so gorgeous and heavenly.  I love it! It makes me more and more excited about the winter to come! Though I am not a fan of the temperatures here: it's only mid November and right now it is only 14*F with a wind chill of 6*F.  That is a bit too cold for me. But I can deal with it better since there is so much snow about.

There is a lot more snow out there than what these pictures show:

This one was taken last night out between a street lap and one of our trees:

God's Blessing in Preschool

This morning I, strangely enough, can say that I was privileged to teach in Preschool during the first service at our House (Koinonia).  As Previous weeks have gone by and this weekend has approached, I have almost (though only sort of) dreaded teaching in Preschool.  Today I did the welcoming (rules, and worship) and the craft.  Most of the precious Sundays, I have ben anxious all morning and have been very nervous as my 'teaching' time was approaching AND just being in with the kids.  However this morning was different. First off, I woke up to several inches of snow freshly blanketing the ground, trees, cars and our house.  That alone lifted my spirit and my heat leaped for  joy.  It was more than beautiful!  Second, God gave me a sense of peace. I had no anxious thoughts, no worries, no fears about what I was going to be doing. God just calmed my heart.  He kept bringing me back to something someone told me this past month:

"Don't plan on what to say, just go into it trusting God and He will give you the words to say: the Holy Spirit will speak through you."

And even though the kids were wild and hectic, all was well. I didn't leave worried, I didn't walk out of the classroom stressed, I walked out of the room at peace.

The kids this week were quite hectic.  Many of them didn't follow directions very well, they wondered when they were suppose to be sitting, and the cried a lot.  The teacher/helper to kid ratio was about 1 to 6.  The welcome worked out pretty good, and it helped that there were a few kids out of the bunch that were willing to speak up and answer the questions about the rules.  One of the other helpers came and had to lead the worship song because I don't know any completely - it's been a long while since I have sang those songs. I had a craft planned that they would be given a contraption that they would just color, that when they pushed a "Bible button" part of the memory verse would pop up ("good and true").  But last night after I had finished the example, I found that reproduction of a fully functional contraption for 20 kids just wasn't going to work out (and it didn't as I tried).  So after much frustration, anger and prayer, I was able to finally refocus my mind on the craft and through the help of Laura, I was able to come up with an idea for another craft.  The craft was basically a pop-up bible. On the front was the words "God's Word", and on the inside three words popped out "Right; And; True" and on the back was "The Bible." This was because the memory verse was "God's Word is right and true."  Praise God, everything worked out and He gave me a ton of peace! Thank you God!

Don and Lavell

As I was going through some of my drone footage from one of the last time the Baurer's last got together, I found these shots of Don and Lavell.   Every time I look at them the bring a smile to my face.  Just look at the big smiles on their faces!

Memories

I found some good memories. Here are some family pictures:

400,000 Km

It's finally here!!!! The moment we have been waiting for since coming to Canada!  (Hint: it involves my little Toyota Echo)

Missions Trip Details

So, a few weeks ago I told you all that I was going on a missions trip to Guatemala and Honduras.  Today our class was given a bit more information on the financial aspect of it.  Below is a general summarization of what is going on (more details about the trip are coming):

---

I, Joshua Baurer, am in this ten month internship program, Servant Leadership Institute (SLI) at Koinonia Christian Fellowship. My class and I well be participating in a service trip to Guatemala and Honduras for the first two weeks of March next year (we leave late February).  The trip is designed to be a time a learning and sharing as a team in a cross-cultural setting. We will have the opportunity to experience church in various settings, and see various ways Christ's mission is being expressed in these two Central American Nations.

 As we prepare for this trip, would like to ask you to consider supporting me and my class in prayer, giving financially, engaging some of the issues and challenges of our missionary partners, and helping us get the word out about our class and our trip next year.

The trip cost is $2,300 (per person) of which I have already committed $1,000 of my personal funds through the SLI program.  It includes all our travel, lodging and transportation costs as well as a contribution to ongoing ministry in each of the countries we are visiting. All of the funds are due January 11, 2016 and any size gift is valuable and appreciated.

---

If you feel God pressing your heart for you to help me financially on this journey, please email me and I will tell you the support options.  Thank you.

joshua.baurer@gmail.com


I will inform you of any more details as soon as I get them.

Also, if you would like the official Support letter along with the Information for Supporting sheet, email me your address and I will mail you a copy (or email, which ever you prefer).

3rd Hobbit

Just Finished The Hobbit The Battle of Five Armies Extended Edition (that comes out on DVD tomorrow Nov. 17th), it was truly worth it. Though I must say I am disappointed that Peter Jackson added more fighting to the point that the Extended Edition is rated R for Violence. On that note, it is very minimal. Yes there is some blood scenes, but it isn't too graphic and it is very obvious that it is fake and hence less violently graphic. If I had to guess, I would say that the movie was rated R barely, I personally would rate it PG-13.

Out of 1,000 (1,000 being the best movie I've seen and 0 being the worst) I would rate:

The Lord of the Rings as a whole as a 1,000;

The Hobbit An Unexpected Journey a 900;

The Hobbit The Desolation of Smaug a 600;

The Hobbit The Battle of Five Armies a 750;

(NOTE: All of the are base off of the Extended Editions, the theatrical versions would be Much lower ratings)

Hobbit Trilogy Complete - Early

So last night I finished up watching the second Hobbit (The Desolation of Smaug) the Extended Edition.  It was amazing!!!  I pre-ordered the third one on Amazon, The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies, which comes out on DVD tomorrow, November 17th 2015.  Amazon guaranteed that I would have on the 17th.  Great news, and kind of a fail at the same time, I got it in the mail today. I actually Got the third Hobbit Extended Edition on DVD before it comes out on DVD!!!! I though that was pretty amazing and I would like to 1. Thank God for fast, safe delivery of the set and 2. thank Amazon for there sweet shipping (thank you Amazon Prime Trial). I am so excited and I plan to start it tonight, possible I will even finish it tonight.

Brain Aptitude Test Results

Below are the results of my Brain Aptitude test, Breakthroughs in Leaning. I am not adding nor subtracting things from this. This is a text version of what he gave me along with the notes that I took from what he said that apply to my results.

KEY:
1 & 2 = Not doing well
3 = Delayed
4 = Low Average
5 = Average
6 = High Average
7 = Superior
8 & 9 = Gifted Range (a 9 is in the top four percentile of people - top 4%)

Rating     What Skill or Thing                      Notes
Communication Skills - through eyes and ears, sometimes hands; take information in; etc...
4 - Eye Tracking  -  Don't do data stuff, likely will make mistakes
7 - Organization of Thought (the ability to organize in my head) -  (clean my room); Can lead to                           perfectionism; Goes with Organization of Environment (below)
9 - Spacial Skill (3D, engineering, interior designing) - Legos, Coping skills -> can cause lots of stress
6 - Spacial Skill (ability to apply knowledge) - analyze, application, connection with rules
7 - Ability to Recognize Letter Patterns - spelling, pattens in letters
9 - Ability to Recognize Number Patterns - add, subtract, multiply, divide; accounting; engineering
6 - Vocabulary Comprehension - words that I understand
5 - Math Vocabulary Comprehension
7 - Comprehension of Relationship Between Words - desire for social contact -> not good working alone; need people
9 - Listing Comprehension (ability to take in extended verbal communication) - Goes with Creativity and Fluency with Ideas (below)

Memories (Storage is what I can put into my brain, Retrieval is How well I can retrieve what I put in my brain)
7 - Short Term memory
9 - Long Term Visual Memory (Storage) - stores long term memory
5 - Long Term Visual Memory (Retrieval) - pulls out of long term memory; very difficult for long term studying
9 - Auditory Memories (Storage) - facts
9 - Auditory Memories (Retrieval)
6 - Inferential Memory - used for unconnected pieces of information; abstract memory; leadership memory

Evaluation
8 - Judgement Skills* - making quick decisions; instant evaluations; ability to quickly and easily make decisions and spot differences; high Judgement Skills needed for a good entrepreneur; Goes with Brain's Willingness to take Risk (below)
4 - Organization of Environment - (can be an indicator of my self esteem); Goes with Organization of Thought (above)
8 - Personal Boundaries - ability to how I relate with others
9 - Numerical Ambiguity (The Ability to Read Between the Lines with Numbers) - ability to deal with the unknown -> numbers, jobs; engineering, politics, etc...

Problem Solving
9 - Speed of Productivity - based on two things: 1. I fully understand what I am doing and 2. its over a short period of time
9 - Speed of Processing - how quickly does my brain process things
6 - Speed of Word Recognition
9 - Brain's Willingness to take Risk* - may cause me to skip the judgement process; Goes with Judgement Skills (above)

Creativity Skills - Divergent thinking
9 - Creativity and Fluency with Ideas - very likely to daydream; abstract; can cause me to be very distracted; Goes with Listing Comprehension (above)
8 - Creativity and Fluency with Words - good at writing essays and such -> should be easier to do
8 - Self Expectation (Where I Expect I will Preform) - I won't always be able to meet my expectations; control my thought life -> negative thoughts can harm my brain physically (scientifically proven); Is my expectation reasonable? Is it realistic?; can hurt my self esteem



*Judgement Skills (8) and Brain's Willingness to take Risk (9): This example show what is happens with a High Judgement Skill and what happens with an even Higher Brain's Willingness to take Risk:

Week Overview

Okay, once again it's been awhile since I last updated my blog here. I had a very busy and overwhelming week (largely because of my own procrastination).

Sunday November 8th,
I served in Preschool during the first service. I 'taught' the memory verse to them. Thankfully it went okay. The kids were very quiet though. Even the other more regular teachers said they were unusually  quiet.  This made doing the memory verse a bit harder but thankfully the main teacher 'chipped' in and helped me out.  After that it was better.

Monday and Tuesday November 9th and 10th,
In SLI we did a video series of a guy doing some teaching. I was very interesting, but not much else happened, at least on Monday.

Tuesday November 10th,
After SLI my procrastination for the past two weeks hit me hard. I realized that I had two days to finish reading the remaining 80 or so pages in my book and write a five-page book report on it.   So I spent quite a few hours finishing reading the book.

Wednesday November 11th,
Morning: Breakthrough Results. Breakthrough is the international Brain Aptitude Test that we did two weeks ago. They guy who gave it to us, Matthew - also a former SLI and now at Koinonia, came in and for nearly four hours gave our results back and explained them (I will share the results shortly).  I also brought a large double batch of Fruit Salsa and Cinnamon Sugar Chips.
Afternoon: I spent the entire afternoon working on my book report that was due first thing Thursday morning. We have been told that if you don't have your book report done for class, don't show up for class.
Evening: Daniel and I had to leave around 6:00 pm to go to church and we didn't get home till a little after 9:00 pm.  Church was great though. I was serving at the Info Center, which I basically stand at the center and do nothing. Except from time to time there are quite a few people who will want to buy tickets for some of the upcoming events at the church. Then is when I have to do a bit of work.  My Life Group, called My Ready Defense, was really good too.
Night:  I stayed up till about 11:30 pm finishing my report, and was grateful to finally have it finished.    Daniel, as usual, took a different tactic. Since he works better in the morning, when we got home from church he went straight to bed and got up at 4:00 am in the morning to finish his paper.

Thursday November 12th,
8:30 am to 8:45 am:  I helped get the snacks ready for child care for another Life Group (that is Thursday Mornings for women only) as I have doe the past number of weeks.  This week however The leader had me hang up a giant poster of Goliath.  This poster, the teacher made herself, was life size at 9+ feet tall.  I had to stand on a small stepladder and stand on my tippy toes to be able to hang it without it curling up at the bottom - it was actually pretty cool.
8:45 am to 9:30 am: Daniel and I did check-in, which is we check in all the kids of moms who are in the Life Group.
9:30 am to 11:00 am: Daniel and I went through our next session of Wild at Heart (with Brian Ferguson) while the girls were at the Life Group.
11:00 am to 11:15-ish am: Daniel and I sat and talked with Brian and ate food while we waited for the Life Group to finish.
11:15-ish am to 11:30 am: Daniel and I went into the room where the Life Group was and stacked and put away chairs and tables.
11:30 am to 12:30 pm: The SLI class discussed with a teacher/speaker our book and turned in our book reports.

Friday November 13th (Jonathan's Birthday),
From 8:30 am to 2:00 pm we were at DCSS (which is basically KCA's - Koinonia's School - old High School) for Axis Day. A group from the States called Axis came and gave a presentation about all sorts of things to a large group of 6th through 12th graders (we attended also).  They were very engaging speakers.
After Axis, I dropped Daniel off at the church so he could work on his Preschool craft for this Sunday, then I drove Amanda home and wen to the dollar store to get some tennis balls for my Preschool craft this Sunday (I am doing craft first service and Daniel is doing the craft second Service). While I was in line for check out I noticed a looney (Canadian $1 coin) on the ground next to the guy in front of me. So I picked it up and gave it to him, he thanked me and then left.  When I was checking out my purchase was more than what cash I had on me, and since my Debit card is American, their machine wouldn't accept it.  So I told them to take one of the bags of tennis balls out and I will just pay cash for the rest. However when the new total came up I was 17 cents short. Thankfully the woman behind me paid it for me.  The the cashier said to me that I did someone nice for the man in front of me and therefore the woman behind me did something nice for me.  It made my day.
Then I drove back to the church and spent the rest of the afternoon there working on my craft with Daniel.  When 7:00 pm rolled around we packed up our stuff and went to Impact (the High School youth gathering at the Church).

Fun Pictures

Valiant

The past two days I been at Koinonia at Valiant, a Mens Conference.  Since Friday morning, I have spent nearly 30 hours at the church (9 hours on Friday, 15 hours on Saturday, and 5 hours today).  It was a really powerful experience and go to hear form some new people.  Our main speaker, Steven Matthews, was a pastor from England, and apparently has been friends with our paster for quite a while, he also was the pastor today (for both services).  I will try to put some of the notes I took from his talks on my blog soon.

If you want pictures of the conference, they can be found on Valiant's Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.886109188132827.1073741833.688229524587462&type=3

Justin vs Edwin

Good  old Memories:

Justin Stuckey vs Edwin Baurer in the Finale of the Question Game:

Video

Drone?

I've been working all this evening trying to fix my drone. Shortly before coming up to Canada it was in a way like Humpty Dumpty, except instead of sitting on a wall, it ran into a tall tree. Then it had a great fall, and though there were no kings and horses (and only the battery popped out), it still had problems that I couldn't figure out. The gimbal (the piece that keeps the camera steady) was crooked and I think it might be a bit bent. This causes the camera to not video stable shots, and the camera was crooked.  After a bit of work on it and researching the problem, I gave up for the time being. I didn't want to even imagining replacing the gimbal (if it was really broke) because that piece is at least $600. After coming to Canada, I used the drone for a time or two, but then when I went out one night to let Julia fly it, it would fly. After looking into it and having my mom send up the manual, I found that it was called (in the manual) an "unknown error." That didn't help... at all.  So, once again I put it aside and ignored it because I didn't want to deal with it. Fast forward a handful of weeks to today, and I decided to try working on it again. I realized, through research, that it wouldn't fly because the software or something was out of date, after updating, I found a number of videos and forums of people who have had similar problems as me. Reading through and watching those gave me some ideas, and I think I now have fixed it (at least good enough), just not quite like new.  I don't know for sure if the camera is still crooked when it flies because it's dark now and I can't see the horizon to tell or not.  I'll have to see tomorrow.

Lord of the Rings

The past two months I have deprived from Lord of the Rings. I know it's horrible!  I seem to have gone into a Lord of the Rings "depression" mode, I miss it so much and want to see it again and again.  - Yes The Hobbit is good, just not as good as Lord of the Rings. The following scale is how I see The Hobbits compared to Lord of the Rings (the higher= I love better):

Lord of the Rings

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The Hobbit: an Unexpected Journey 

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The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies

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The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

Halloween

Bright Lights Night

Saturday was Bright Lights Night at Koinonia (a Bright Light's Night for family with kids up to grade 6). We all dressed up in very bright clothing and us SLI's did the games and helped pass out candy at the end. Here is my "outfit" that I wore:

For those of you who saw this on Facebook and wanted a little more detail:

-The red Scarf was someone all of us SLI's got for helping at an event at the church
-The blue suit coat I have had my eye on at a store called K&K (which is basically the BigLots of Costco - stuff that doesn't sell well or is returned to Costco is sold at K&K for a reduced price). Though I didn't get this earlier because it was too expensive, but it so happened that Friday when I went all there clothing was 50% off. - It is now one of my new "best friends."
-The pants: I didn't have any bright pants nor could I find any affordable ones in stores. While I was at a store (like Goodwill or Salvation Army) I found a large sewing cloth that I decided to use as a cape. Then at K&K I got a Bright Pink woman bathrobe (that was too short) that I was going to ware upside down (my legs through the sleeves).  But Saturday morning I decided that that looked to ridiculous and decided to try someone thing different. So I spent about three and a half hours sewing (by hand) the cloth into a pair of pants (that I am waring in the picture).  It was worth it, and they fit well!!! - I am using the bathrobe's sting-thingy as a belt (not visible in the picture).

DISC

Tuesday and Wednesday:

We did DISC (Personality/behavior Test).  I came out to be IS (where as I had expected to be SI). I took the test twice, one for me at SLI and one for me at home: my results are shown below 

(The RED is me at home and the BLUE is me at SLI) the 3 graphs are the main results, if you can read my scribbling to the top right of each graph, it explains what each graph means:

(click on the picture to enlarge it)

As you probably can see, me at home is the same as me at SLI, but just on steroids - everything is more (I and S are higher in conflict and D and C are lower in conflict). For those of you who don't know what each letter is below are a few links that tell it very well (with examples) OR there are a number of pictures below that will help too - though the links are very helpful.  

D

https://www.discinsights.com/personality-style-d#.VjKLJWDL6fQ

I 

https://www.discinsights.com/personality-style-i#.VjKLTGDL6fQ

S

https://www.discinsights.com/personality-style-s#.VjKLRWDL6fQ

C 

https://www.discinsights.com/personality-style-c#.VjKLUmDL6fQ

The Black and White pictures are straight out of the book that our test was in 

(click on them to enlarge the text)