My Year of 2006 (A Year of 1st)

So I have been reflecting the past couple of days about the last year and I just decided to post a page that I put in my 2005-2006 scrapbook of Makkovik(with the exception of a few more things that I just thought about today or since I did this page) . . .

A Whole Bunch of 1st

Well since I've been in Makkovik I have experienced a whole bunch of firsts.

It was the first time I was ever in an isolated community.

It was the first time I ever ordered food for the whole year.

It was the first time I ever experienced the Inuit culture.

It was my first year of being a teacher.

It was the first time I ever experienced driving a MACHINE!

It was the first time I ever bought a "vehicle" well a snowmobile--- vehicle for me!

It was the first time I ever made my own "cooked" dinner.

It was my first time fundraising. (Let me tell you we did lots!!!)

It was my first time taking a group of students to the Music Festival!

(They did extremely well with all of their sweet voices.)

It was the first time I ever seen so much SNOW!

(Over 100cm in one snow storm)

It was the first time I wore gloves in September. (Funny hey)

It was the first time I ever went out on Bay Ice.

It was the first time I ever went to a Moravian Church.

It was the first time I ever seen a Dog Team, let alone a dog team race.

It was the first time I ever realized that I would be addicted to scrapbooking...

"Do you sell scrapbooking pens Shelley?" . . . we won't say how much I spent!

It was the first time I ever learned how to crochet (well ask Crystal about that)

It was the first time I ever went ice fishing.

It was the first time I ever went fishing in speed boat (and I call myself a Newfie!)

It was the first time I ever experienced a "true" winter boil up! (Can't wait to have one).

It was the first time I used snow for tea! Some good! I can smell it now!

Well my experiences in the past year have been nothing but wonderful! I am glad that I went to Labrador to experience the different way of life there. I am thankful for all the support I received and all the friends that I have gathered. Most of all I am thankful to God for providing me with all of these opportunities and really using my time in Makkovik to speak to me.
He provided when I was nervous, nervous to go there at first. But I knew in my heart that is was where I was supposed to be going at the time. I shouldn't be surprised right? God's love is wonderful!

So I just want to end with a Bible Verse. . .

"For great is his love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord." Psalm 117:2

He is completely faithful! I have stood in awe of God's faithfulness in the past two years so many times. His love has no limit!!!! It just amazes me! Just to think of all HE has done for me, and what I hear He is doing for so many others amazes me! I am so thankful! Imagine . . I was going to a place where I didn't know anyone and He provided me with so many things including a Christian roommate. It just makes you realize that God definitely takes care of the little things!

Put your trust in Him!

Trusting Him always,

Rebecca

My First BUN!

Alright, what do you think? So here it is... my first real bun. My hair has never been long enough until now to put a bun bun in it... and because I am not the best at doing my hair my mother has always aided me when it was long enough(grade 11). But I figured that I should take the next step and try it on my own since next year if I am accepted to CFOT I will need to know how to do this. So today I decided to go the extra mile... just to laugh really, and do a bun in my hair and here it is! This is my first bun... it's an ok bun... a few bumps on the bottom, but hey... with more practice I'll get better. I'm going to try again now in a few minutes because as I tell my students PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT... actually more like this... GOOD PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT!

Have a great day!

Rebecca

Merry Christmas!!!!

Here are some pictures from the last couple of days.
The first picture is of my aunt and uncle, Ros and Bill. I spent a lot of time with my aunt when I was a little girl and I loved every single minute of it. She used to babysit me when my mom was teaching.

The second picture is of my parents. It is so nice to be home with them again although the time together has been short, my dad leaves for work again tomorrow. However, we will get to spend more time together coming up this summer!

The third picture is of Nanny(Dad's mother) and Momcoop (Mom's mother). Just listen to this.. . I am the only grandchild on one side and the youngest on the other... now I would say that that = spoiled. (just kiddin'!)

The fourth picture is of mom, Roslyn, and Momcoop. I want to make a scrapbook later on of my family so I am getting as many pictures as I can.

And finally I would like to introduce to you an another addition to my Christmas family.... Mr. Nutcracker! Isn't he cute? I can't wait to decorate my house with him one of these days!

I love my family! It is so nice to be with everyone again!










May you be richly blessed!
Rebecca

Thank You, oh, my Father!

There is a Redeemer, Jesus God's own Son
Precious Lamb of God, Messiah, Holy One.

Thank You, oh, my Father, for giving us Your Son,
And leaving Your Spirit til' the work on earth is done.

Words and Music By: Melody Green


Over 2000 years ago, God gave us a very special gift, the best gift ever. I am so thankful that I am able to share in the gift of Jesus. I am thankful that God sent His only Son to earth for each one of us.

I pray that as Christmas comes tomorrow that people will remember the reason for the season and that each family will recognize Jesus' birthday.

Thank you once again God!

Merry Christmas!
Rebecca

I AM HOME!!!!!!

Well... I made it home! The weather in Makkovik stayed up and we got out right when we were supposed to! Sweet deal hey? I went to Sobey's today which was wonderful... I bought: cherry tomatoes, cherries, kiwi, chicken hearts, meat puddings, nice green grapes, and some other things. It was so exciting. I also went to the MALL!!! I had fun there too... hey, the Avalon mall has had quite the face lift... It looks so cool especially the Market Place section! Neat hey!

It is great to be home... home sweet home!

Bye for now,
Rebecca

It's Beginning to "Feel" a lot like Christmas

I feel like it is Christmas. Yeah! I love Christmas and as a music teacher I get to experience Christmas for awhile before it begins. (One of the quirks of my job) I have been doing Christmas music in my classroom since November 15th and it has been very exciting for both me and the students! However, since the Jingle on December 9th it has felt like Christmas even more and it feels even more and more like Christmas everyday. And with this being a snow day for us (nice hey... especially after the Christmas concert) Christmas has officially started for me!

We had a Christmas Family Service at the church on Sunday afternoon. It was really nice and it felt so much like Christmas! The Sunday School did their nativity play at the service which went really well. A special thank you goes out to Russell and Cathy for everything they did to make it a success. All the kids looked absolutely cute in their costumes and everything went really smoothly. We had a funny incident happen though. One of our little kids got stage fright and ran down and sat with her family. However, in the middle of nowhere she ran up took the microphone... quickly said " WE is the sheepS", tried to give back the microphone, then decided to take the microphone again, say her line really loudly again, drop the microphone and run back down to her family. All I could do was laugh... it was extremely cute!

The Music Group sang at the service as well and they did a wonderful job! They sang three songs: Do you hear what I hear?, There is a Redeemer, and Promises to keep. It sounded good! Anyway, this service was very nice with a very big message which I hope people heard and understood. We have been praying that God would speak to the congregation. I seen the most people I have seen at church here too! I say there were probably 100 people! Nice hey?

Anyway, yesterday we had the Christmas concert at the school which went really well. I was so proud of my students. I have seen big improvements since September and I am so thankful for that. For the closing song we did "Happy Christmas" by John Lennon. THe grade 12 rock band, grade 11 violin class, and the Junior Choir did it together. When we practiced on Thursday morning for the first time to put it all together.... after they had sung and played the first verse and chorus together I had to stop them. I was teary eyed! I could see how far how they had come since last year and the tears just welled up in my eyes. I was so thankful! When I came here last year Hot Cross Buns was a chore to play together in the violin class. I honestly had never heard anything like it when we tried to put it together one day in class and this year, this class is playing Carol of the Bells in 4 parts at the concert... even the fast run on Merry, Merry, Merry, MErry Christmas. I am so proud of them and thank God for helping me work with them. The final song made my night... I had one person come up to me and say... "It sounded good and we weren't even listening to a recording, we were listening to our own students here". They did a fantastic job!

I am thankful so very thankful! God does certainly bless each and everyone of us each and everyday.

Have a very Merry Christmas.

Rebecca

The Perfect Cup of Tea

Let me tell ya, there is nothing better than a cup of TEA! I just love sitting back and relaxing with a cup of tea. And that's exactly what I am doing right now before I go to the school! It is absolutely wonderful!!!!! It is definitely a perfect cup of tea this morning... made with two sugar and a nice bit of milk, absolutely lovely (my favorite word). And guess what... I get to have TIM HORTON'S steep tea on Thursday and I cannot wait! Yeah! And I will get to eat out too!!! Yippee... but with that being said I think I live with the best cook in the world. Thanks Carla!

Here are some pictures of Christmas Events around the community!...

My Vision

My vision is to be a sincere Christian.
My vision is to love everyone.
My vision is to commit to things wholeheartedly.
My vision is to not make mistakes easily.
My vision is to live a Christ-centered life.
My vision is to put aside all earthly things.
My vision is to do all that God would have me to do.
My vision is to try my hardest not to disappoint God.
My vision is to live completely for Him.
My vision is Jesus.

My vision is Jesus. I want to keep my eyes fixed on Jesus. I want to live completely for Him. I want to worship and praise Him every day. I want to be the best I can be for Him.

All I want is to be completely giving my all to Him. I want to be a sincere Christian whose eyers are fixed on Him and His ways.

Jesus, thank you so much for reminding me tonight.

In Faith,
Rebecca

One of those nights...

So it is 2:15 here right now and I am having one of those nights where I can't sleep... I have now been awake since 1:20 and cannot get back to sleep. I have no idea why I cannot sleep but that's ok. So here I am on the internet and having decided to write on my blog. Anyway...

We had a cookie exchange tonight. We all received 7 dozen cookies each. Nice hey... anyway, when I woke up the earlier I was dreaming that I was in bed with all the cookies, all 49 dozen... and that I was trying not to roll on them. Yeah, you can all laugh at that. It brings me back to when I started scrapbooking again last year... there was one weekend where I scrapbooked that much that I had a dream one night that I kept lying on and wrinkling up my "precious" scrapbook paper. That was definitely one of those nights. But that's ok... that isn't even the weirdest thing that I have done during a dream.

In university one time I was having an aural skills test the next day. It was my last year of aural skills therefore, the hardest aural skills, and I had worked really hard practicing one night. I awoke from a dream that night! When I awoke I was sitting up in bed doing two-part rhythms on my lap. And if I remember correctly I have a witness... my roommate at the time awoke from me doing... I think so anyway. Yeah, yeah... I know what you are all thinking...

BUT . . . Let me assure you these sleeps don't happen all the time... probably once in a year.
I can handle that... if it happened every night I would be pretty worried.

Anyway, I think this has made me sleepy enough to go back to bed... I should be asleep in no time!

Have a great night with many blessings!
Rebecca

We are riding MACHINES again!

It is so exciting to be back on "machines" again. On Sunday morning when I got up and looked out the window, I was greeted with lots of SNOW! We had lots of snow overnight and I was able to ride to Sunday School on machine. Believe me that was so exciting... Carla and I have only been itching to get our machines out since we got back in August! Anyway, since we rode machine on Sunday, we have been on machine ever since.

It is so convenient to be on machine again. It makes going to the store, Post Office, church, and school so much easier and so much more enjoyable. I love riding and I cannot wait to get more and more snow so our ride becomes so much smoother than what it is right now. We are supposed to get a few more centimeters tomorrow, and snow on Saturday. Come on with the snow. I can't wait for the boil ups and going for rides around town and out on the bay. I want winter WINTER now.

Presently we are experiencing the St. John's February winter however much colder. I don't even know if I can call it St. John's winter... because St. John's doesn't get anything like this. The windchill today was -26. It was cold but beautiful.

Anyway, take advantage of the winter weather and have lots of fun. Can't wait to actually go for a real ride when all the snow arrives!

Many blessings,
Rebecca

Tonight at Informal Church we were discussing relationships and friendships. We were talking about the qualities that are important in friendships and what makes a friend. Immediately many friendships came to my mind that I have had over the years. But the friendships that stood out the most with what we were talking about in church were my three friends from Music School.

I thank God that I made these three friends. I really believe that each of these friendships happened for a reason and for that I am thankful, more thankful than you can imagine. These three girls mean so much to me. And I appreciate them all for different reasons.

Karen- Karen is probably one of the funniest people I know. She and I became very close in our first year of university through piano master class. We are completely different individuals but we get along so well. Karen is the type of person who you can share anything with and she never forces you to do anything that you would not want to do. She also is very understanding. And in the midst of any circumstance she can have you in knots. Karen, with her humour, helped me laugh my way through the teary eyed moments of music school... especially at times like this... when our prof told us that we could possibly fail our chamber music jury... I left teary eyed with Karen and by the time we got down over the stairs we were both in knots. We got 80! I think it was because of Karen's humour that we got through that duet!

Crystal- I met Crystal in second year of university and she basically became part of my family. Every long weekend and midterm break Crystal made the journey with me to my house in Dildo where she even has her own room now! She just became one of us... She is the type of person who is easy to get a long with, to talk to you, and just become like one of you. It was like she was part of my family. I looked up to Crystal when we became roommates and I respected her. I could share anything with Crystal and she would never be judgemental... she would just listen. I am so thankful for Crystal's friendship because she taught me how to be independent and hold my own. THanks Crystal!

Beth- I met Beth my first year of university but became really close when we got in music education... we did all of our music ed courses together. I spent much time with her. Beth is very concerned with your emotional well being. Beth has on many occasions been a great listener for me. She's always able to give you full attention when you need someone to listen. Even on days when I am upset about something today, Beth is always available to listen. Thanks Beth for being such a great friend!

Well... right now I wish that we could all go to Tim Horton's together and hang out and watch a movie. I miss you girls but in June or July maybe we will all see each other again!

I just want to thank God for giving me these three wonderful friendships. These three girls mean the world to me.

Many Blessings,
Rebecca