Friday, December 15, 2006

Friday Night Fun

Last Friday was the Christmas Banquet here at Bethany. We did not go last year, so this was our first experience of the event. It was a fun night. I went over to JP and got all prettified with the girls. The dinner was really good and the show was nice. From what I understand, it was a lot more serious than previous years. There was some comedy at the beginning of the night. Dean Higle and Miranda told some pretty sweet jokes. Jenn and Troy Carruthers (women's RD and youth ministry professor) did a really funny skit about Christmas morning when they were kids. And Professor Graham and some students performed an Elvis Christmas song. From then on out was singing Christmas carols and listening to others sing. Although we would have preferred more comedy, I was reminded of how much musical talent we have at Bethany. There are so many talented musicians here and they are amazing to listen to. Testify and choral did an amazing job. That was our evening last Friday night. I will get some pictures posted soon (hopefully).

Tonight we went out to dinner with the Carruthers. We had a great time. It was one of those nights filled with making numerable inside jokes and nonstop laughter. We had dinner at an amazing Thai restaraunt and our waitor has cats with double paws (whatever that means). He was a strange guy, but a lot of fun to talk to. From there we went driving around to find a place to eat dessert because Asian restaraunts are not known for good desserts. This is where the fun really began. Joy swore the waitor slipped us something and she was the only one who didn't get any. Everything was so funny to us. I would fill you in, but you probably just wouldn't understand. Asian, porn, fastfood, thermometer and tooth fairies. See, I told you you wouldn't understand. Anywho, we went to Mike's for dessert and it was some good dessert. Then it was back to Sussex.

This is what we've been up to (besides finals). We leave on Sunday to drive to Providence, and our flight leaves from there on Monday. It may be a while until you hear from us again, so Merry Christmas everyone! much love becky

Saturday, December 02, 2006

Busy Saturday

We finally had another basketball game today. Our last game was at the end of October. It's difficult to get teams to play (inluding enough players for a team of our own). We played NBCC and won 77-23 with only 6 players. It was a fun game. After the game it was time to go shopping for a dress for the Christmas Banquet next weekend. I wasn't too excited about this, but it needed to be done. Buying clothes in Canada is difficult because everything is so much more expensive, and I don't like spending a lot of money on clothes (especially on a dress I am probably only going to wear once). Spending money on dresses in high school was no problem because I didn't have to pay :) Anywho, I found a cute dress for a lot cheaper than I expected, and I can wear it on other occasion. This made me very happy. After we went shopping, I had the chance to get some Starbucks. While I would much rather have Caribou Coffee (or pretty much anything) over Starbucks, it was definitely a nice change of pace from Tim Horton's. In fact, it was gourmet coffee compared to Tim's. I drink a lot of Tim's, but I'm not sure why. Their cappucinos are pretty much the same thing you can get out of the machines at a gas station (Tim's uses the machines, not real espresso). So, you can see why Startbucks is gourmet. Anywho, now we're back at home, about to watch the Oklahoma game. Have a great day everyone. much love becky

Friday, November 24, 2006

Civil War Game


The Civil War game is today. For those of you who may not know what this is, it's the BIG football game in Oregon. It's Oregon State vs Oregon. I root for either team during the regular season because anyone from Oregon rocks, but deep down, I am still a Beavers fan and I would love to see them kick the Ducks' butts. I love Oregon this time of year with the huge rivalry game. It's such a good feeling. It's halftime right now and OSU is up 20-7. Go Beavers! Wish I could be watching the game, but I'm stuck in Canada. I'm envious for all of you who are able to. Have a great day everyone. much love becky

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Addresses Please

Hey everyone. We are going to try something new this year...sending out a Christmas letter. I know you're all so excited. If you could send us your address, that would be great. Even if you think we already have it, please send it to us because there's a good chance we've lost it during one of our moves. Please send it to craving_the_cross@yahoo.com. Thank you o so very much. Have a great day everyone. much love the poe poes

Sunday, November 12, 2006

Love Hate Relationship


I've never been real fond of public speaking. My hands sweat. My face turns bright red. I talk faster and faster. Speach classes have always made me real nervous. Although I have always had this fear of public speaking, I love it when it means sharing a word from God. I love sharing the truths which God has shared with me. I love being able to be an instrument of God. I hate public speaking, but I love God speaking through me. God's given me a passion for doing one of my greatest fears. How awesome is that? It's so cool to me how God works through our weaknesses. I love it. I've really been itching to preach lately. I'm looking forward to the next time I have the opportunity (it's been almost a year, and the last time was in oral comm. class). I use to prefer sharing what God's been teaching me by writing it out. Now when God teaches me something, He reveals how it could be made into a sermon. It's neat. Maybe that's why I don't write a whole lot on here anymore. Who knows. Now I'm just rambling so I'm going to be done. Have a great day everyone. much love becky

Monday, October 30, 2006

Good Quote


"Well, I like have a photographic memory, but I just can't remember what's in the picture." -Jeff Poe

Saturday, October 21, 2006

As Promised

The Loop

River Shot

It was gettin' warm

On top of a waterfall

Lookin down

In the shadows

Pretty Tree



"Little Jerk"

Friday, October 13, 2006

A Little Too Ironic

Our "local" news comes out of Buffalo, NY. As you may or may not already know, they got a bunch of snow last night and it was pretty bad with downed limbs, powerlines, etc. Well, this is all the news has been reporting. During the news today, one anchor was saying not to use water unless it's an absolute emergency (I did not catch his reasoning for this). As he was saying this the lady anchor with him was taking a drink of her water. I'm wondering if that was an emergency. O the irony. Have a great day everyone. much love

Thursday, October 12, 2006

See The Morning


This is Chris Tomlin's newest CD. Now that you know, go out and buy it. You won't be sorry.

Awkward Fundy Analogy

Monday was a great day for a hike. We went to Fundy and hiked a trail we wanted to do last spring, but it was still closed then. It's a good thing it was closed becausee I can't imagine doing that hike in snow. Anywho, it was a 7.something kilometer hike (roughly 3.5 miles). The first 2k were down hill, followed by 2.5k of climbing over rocks and a path along the river, and finishing with 2.5k uphill. That was killer. Not to mention we were going at a fairly quick pace because we were afraid we were going to run out of daylight, and we almost did. We didn't get there until about 3:30 and the info sign said it was a 3-4.5 hour hike, so we booked it and got done in 2.5 hours. We had less than 30 min of daylight to spare. It was a beautiful day and we got some good pictures which will be posted on here sometime this weekend.

Now, for the funny story of the day. We were at the end of our hike and I was dragging. Jeff was leading the way and I was oblivious to all that was going on around me. All of a sudden he turned around and was like "Sh sh sh..turn around turn around." Of course, I could not just turn around without first looking at why I was turning around. There was a woman scampering into the brush, getting dressed and a man scurrying up the path, also getting dresses. They were having sex on the public trail! And we caught them! I don't know what this guy was thinking but he just kept going up the trail a few yards ahead of us like nothing happened, as he left the lady back in the woods. What a jerk. Luckily, I did not see anything, but Jeff did get a full moon from the lady. Lucky guy. Anywho, that's our funny story.

Of course, you can't spend a day enjoying God's creation without coming up with some sort of spiritual analogy. The trail we were hiking was anything but smooth. There were roots, rocks, boulders, streams, rivers, and puddles all to avoid. This made it difficult to check out all the scenery because we were having to watch our every step. We could only get glimpses of what was ahead. If we focused too much on what was way ahead of us, we were sure to trip and fall or at least stub our toe. Get where I'm going with this? It is not bad for us to look ahead in our lives to what the future will bring. But, it is important that we do not get so caught up in what is going to happen, that the problems of today trip us up. I've caught myself doing this lately. I am looking forward to being in ministry. God has given me this passion and I can't wait to do this with my life. I look forward to that so much that sometimes I forget what I can be doing now. God not only has great things for me when I'm out of school, but He has great things for me now. I need to be pursuing these moments just as passionately as I'm pursuing being in ministry full time.

And that was our Fundy experience. Have a great day everyone. much love becky

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

House


Get this video and more at MySpace.com

I was actually looking for some funny clips from House, but I came across more videos like this. It got me thinkin. Now, anyone who watches House knows the majority of the show is just hilarious. 'House-isms' are way more frequent than all the sad, depressing stuff. Because the majority of the show is so funny, it becomes easy to overlook some of the more sad stuff. I don't want to pick apart House...I love the show. I'm simply using this video as an analogy. Many times people's lives seem great. We tend to see a person's jokes and smiles and ignore their struggles. We like to see only what we want to see, when so often there is so much more going on. This is not to say everyone has some deep, depressing secret, but don't overlook a person's struggles. There's very possibly way more to the person. Just a thought. much love

Saturday, October 07, 2006

More Than a List of 'Don'ts'

Too often people look at being a Christian as a list of 'don'ts.' This, to me, is one of the biggest misconceptions of Christianity. It's not only non-Christians who take this view, but many Believers do as well. It can be so easy to look at our lives and think "I'm not struggling with anything...I don't gossip, I don't lie, I don't drink, I don't commit adultery, I don't swear, I don't get angry, I don't yadda yadda yadda....I have a great relationship with God." While refraining from all these things is great and something the Bible calls us away from, I do not believe that simply living by a list of 'don't' brings upon a great relationship with God. Now, you might be saying, "well duh," but, if you really think about it, how often do you see Christians living their lives this way? There's a whole lot of stuff they don't do, but what are they really doing for God? What evidence is in their lives of a relationship with Christ? Even more than the outward expression of a strong walk, what are they doing in their personal lives to grow in their relationship with Him? What's really going on inside their heart? A person knows when their doing for Christ, and when they are just following a list of 'dont's.'

Why do I bring this up? Great question. I bring this up because I have come to the realization that this does a pretty good job of describing me. I've heard a lot of sermons lately which are a call from sin, into a deeper walk with God. As much as I desire a deeper walk with Him, I don't believe it is because of something I am doing which is keeping me from this, but rather what I am not doing. Suru, I'm going to Bible college over 3,000 miles from home, in another country to become a youth pastor and possibly serve overseas. Yes, I'm serving as the Spiritual Life Association President on campus. I've seem to got the outward expression down. But my personal life is bla. It's been bla. How do I make it not bla? How does anyone make it not bla? You've got me. I like to think this is just something we go through. Just another phase in this journey. But at what point does a 'phase' become a lifestyle; a lifestyle that is hard to shake?

Maybe you're reading this thinking 'wow, she's messed up." Maybe you're reading this thinking "I've been there." Or maybe you're reading this and you're tihnking "That's where I'm at." I'm writing this for those of you with any one of these thoughts. My biggest struggle has always been a lack of transparency. I've always tried to be the strong one; the one who has it all figured out. But I don't think I'll have anything figured out until I admit that I have nothing figured out. So this is me, laying it out there. This is me being honest with myself and with you.

God is good. I'm so thaknful for His faithfulness. He never let's us go. He never gives up on us. That is powerful. An illustration of this which has been coming to mind time and time again recently is one Erik shared with us in youth group a few years back. Just like a spit ball sticks to a wall (or ceiling) like glue, so God sticks to us. He doesn't let go. I keep picturing those giant spit balls on the walls and ceiling of the youth room. It's a good reminder of His faithfulness. What an awesome God we serve. much love becky

Friday, October 06, 2006

I Should Blog About That

I use this phrase many times throughout the week, yet, as one can see from the lack of newness on our blog, that I rarely do what I say I should do. So, for your reading pleasure, here are some of the stories/events/etc which I have said I should blog about recently. Enjoy.

The Synagogue Experience
Yesterday we went on a field trip to a Synagogus in Moncton for our World Religions class. It was a very interesting experience. I learned a great deal more about the Jewish faith through this trip. The rabbi reminded me of Ben Stiller when he played a rabbi in some movie (I can't remember the name). He was a pretty funny guy (not to the extent of Ben, but the same idea). It was a little nerver-racking at first because we were all trying to be on our best behavior, making sure with did not come accross offensive. It was difficult to act all prim and proper when the rabbi was making jokes about some of the querks of his congration, and sometimes his faith in general. I enjoyed this. Every religion and congregation has its own little querks, and I liked that he was not ashamed or embarressed to point these out. Another thing that stuck out to me from this experience was that the people in his congregation actually enjoy being a part of the serivce. There are very few Jews who would rather just sit and listen to the rabbi for the length of a service. I believe most Christian churches can learn from this. As a guest lecturer in one of our classes pointed out, a lot of Christians have 'Pew-monia.' I cannot write this post without mentioning the ritual baths. This is simply a bath located in the Synagogue where members wash themselves before prayer and women cleanse themselves in this bath after their mentruation. The rabbi told us that women are not allowed to have sex while they are on their period, and have to go through this ritual bath before they are allowed to again. Now, he also informed us that there have been men who are known to have been impatient and met their wives in this ritual bath. He even said there were roses leading up the door one time. Our class enjoyed the story, so I thought you might as well.

Extensive Three Game Season
I decided to play softball this year. It was a good time indeed. But, as the title informs you, we only played three games. Softball if just wrapping up in these parts when we get here for school. I am happy to announce that we went undefeated. That's right, we beat the same team three times to go undefeated for the 2006 softball season. Our first "tournament" consisted of a double header @ ABU. I caught the first game and most of the second game. I actually pitched (i should mention here that it's slow pitch) the last two innings of the second game...something I haven't done since jr high. It was a lot of fun. I even struck someone out. Go me :) Nicole and I both hit homeruns that game. This was my first ligit homerun in my entire softball career. I was pretty stoked about that. Because I have not caught since June of '04, I was incredibly sore after a mere 10 innings of squatting. I could barely move for 2 days. It was patheitc to say the least. Our second "tournament" was supposed to be another two games against ABU...this time in Sussex. Our first game was scheduled at 8 am, but by 9:15, we realized ABU was not going to show. So, we eneded up playing only one game at 2. We might have a chance to play a couple coed games this Tuesday. I am very excited about that because my gear finally got here this week...of course after our final game (or so we originally thought). I'll let you know how those games go and possibly have a few pics as well.

YAY for Canadian Thankgiving
Today is the start of our four day weekend for Canadian Thankgiving. It is going to be nice to have a break from classes. Jeff and I don't have any big plans. Tonight is date night which will be spent eating some yummy food, watching the Twins (hopefully not awtching them lose AGAIN), and watching the Little Mermaid. Saturday we will be watching college football...the Oklahoma-Texas game is on TV. Jeff is super excited about that. Sunday we will be celebrating Thankgiving with our Canadian family, the Carruthers. We do everything with them because they rock. Monday we are hopefully going to spend a few hours at Fundy. It's really pretty here right now and I want to get some pictures before all the trees are empty. Tuesday I will probably be playing softball in Truro, Nova Scotia. That's what our weeknd looks like as of now.

Living on Cmpaus is Sweet Indeed
Yes, we are loving being on campus. It is so much differnt than last year, but that is a good thing. We are actually involved and are building some great relationships. Life can get hectic with poeple constantly knocking on our door and calling us (thanks to Jeff's job), but overall it has been a great experience thus far. Every once in a while I go on duty with the female RA. That's always a lot of fun. We look for people making out and what not, but we haven't caught anyone yet. I'm looking forward to the awkwardness of when we do someday. I'm convinced it will happen.

Gettin' In Shape
I never thought it would actually happen, but it is. And it is about time. I have not done much of anything since high school and it shows. Softball helped to get the kinks out of my laziness (if that makes any sense whatsoever). Jen Carruthers and I have been walking a few nights a week. Jeff and I have started running everynight. And now, basketball is starting. Last night was the first open gym I had been to and I thought it was going to kick my butt. Thanks to the three things previously mentioned, it did not. I actually felt pretty good out there. I still have a ways to go before our first game in two weeks, but I'm getting there.

Cozy Little Apartment in Ingersoll
There's not much to say about this, but check out the pictures. It is really messy, but I figured you would want to know what it usually looks like so I didn't clean it. Also, there is another bedroom and a bathrrom which are not pictured.

I'll Be Home for Christmas
That's right, we will not be spending this Chrsitmas in Sussex. We have plane tickets to Oklahoma for break. We haven't gotten a ticket yet, but I will be spending a week of that time (Dec 26-Jan 2) in Oregon. YAY!!!! My sister will be back from New Zealand for a a bit and I really want to see her while I can. That is why I am going. Of course, I am excited to see everyone else while I am back there as well.

I hope you have enjoyed this update. There will be more to come soon. And I really mean it this time. Have a great day everyone. much love becky




Jewish Calendar from the Synagogue

Kitchen/Dining Room

Bedroom

Living Room

Living Room...check out that sexy couch

Office

Office

Office

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Longings of My heart

I really want to go to a concert. Music is a pssion of mine and because God has not blessed me with the gift of music, I fulfill my passion by listening ot music and going to concerts. It's been a while and I miss it. This, sadly, is definitely not concert country. I thought Oregon was bad, but there's a few good ones going through in the next few months. But not here. I was just on itickets and there were no listings for New Brunswick. Sad. Just thought I'd share the longings of my heart...to go to a concert. For now, I can just reflect upon the good times of having connections. Here's some pictures so you can reflect with me. much love becky


Chris Tomlin Band

Chris Tomlin

The Katinas

Newsboys

Newsboys and Rebecca St. James

Plus One-I know you're all jealous, especially you Swarty

Supertones

Supertones

Jeremy Camp

Newsboys

Relient K

Relient K

Sanctus Real

Supertones

Jake

Phat Chance

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Freshmen Week

We've had a crazy couple of weeks here, but it's been a good time for sure. Freshman week was a lot of fun. I hope they had as much as we did putting everything together. The activities started Tuesday night with Bethany Live. The videos, skits, and interviews were hilarious as usual. Wednesday night we had the annual Slip 'n' Slide on Prez's Hill followed by Mission Impossible. We have a field on campus where we will eventually have athletic facilities, but for now it's super tall grass and big piles of dirt. We played Mission Impossible in the dirt piles. Although most of the leaders did not get a chance to play it looked like a good time. Classes started on Thursday, but the fun did not end. That night we played Ultimate Frisbee and Protect the Queen which turned into a huge water balloon fight. Friday was our first chapel (more on that in a bit). Friday night we played Hangman which is pretty much like Capture the Flag only there are multiple "flags" (words) which must be captured and brought back to teammates who are trying to figure out the puzzle. Saturday morning was a scavenger hunt around Sussex. The afternoon brought the annual student vs staff softball game. It was a lot of fun even though the staff won. That night was a cookout and the final freshman game: Barbarian. It was a hectic game full of cow parts (liver, heart, tail, kidneys), bananas, macaroni, and some more water balloons. That was our week. Now we're getting into the routine of classes. It's good to be involved and on campus. Busy but good. Here are some pictures.


Me being a sweetheart and giving Jeff a hug after I went down the Slip 'n' Slide.


Slip 'n' Slide fun.



This weekend was also the balloon festival in Sussex so we had balloons flying over us every night.

Saturday, August 26, 2006

Something I'm Workin' On

Sanctus Real "I'm Not Alright"

If weakness is a wound
That no one wants to speak of
Then “cool” is just how far we have to fall
I am not immune
I only want to be loved
But I feel safe behind the firewall
Can I lose my need to impress?
If you want the truth, I need to confess

I’m not alright
I’m broken inside, broken inside
And all I go through
It leads me to you, it leads me to you

Burn away the pride
Bring me to my weakness
Until everything I hide behind is gone
And when I’m open wide
With nothing left to cling to
Only you are there to lead me on
Cause honestly, I’m not that strong

I’m not alright
I’m broken inside, broken inside
And all I go through
It leads me to you, it leads me to you

And I move, and I move, and I move...closer to you
And I move, and I move, and I move...closer to you
And I move, and I move, and I move...closer to you
And I move, and I move, and I move...

I’m not alright
I’m broken inside, broken inside
broken inside, broken inside
And all I go through
Leads me to you, leads me to you

I’m not alright, I’m not alright, I’m not alright...that’s why I need you

much love becky

Not Too Much

So we've been back in Canada for almost 2 weeks now. We haven't been up to a whole lot besides getting settled in. Student leaders are arriving this weekend so Jeff's having to start doing his job. We start student leadership training tomorrow so now we will have stuff to do to keep us busy until classes start. Um, we have some friends who are back on campus so it's been a good time hanging out with them. Like I said though, we really haven't been up to a whole lot. Nothing interesting has been going on. I'll get some pictures of our apartment posted on here sometime in the next few days. We have a pretty sweet couch. You should look forward to seeing it because it rocks. So yeah, that's pretty much it for now. Have a great day. much love becky

Tuesday, August 08, 2006

Sorry

It's morning and the computer still doesn't want to upload the pictures. Sorry. I'll get them up here sometime. O, and just so you know, we live about 6 miles south of town. The tornado hit the north edge of town so we were not effected by it at all. much love

Monday, August 07, 2006

Last Night In Warroad

As the title has already informed you, tonight is our last night in Warroad. This weekend has been an eventful one. We spent the day shopping in Grand Forks with my parents on Friday. On Saturday we went to my great aunt and uncle's 60th wedding anniversary party. It was good to see a lot of family even though I don't know how I'm related to half of them. Also on Saturday, a tornado hit Warroad. It was a category three and did some damage to the town. I'll have to post my mom's article to let you all know more about it. Jeff and I drove around town not too long after it hit, and there was some pretty crazy stuff. I'll hopefully post some pictures in the morning before we leave. Our computer's being too slow to do it now. We didn't do much Sunday...just waited around all day, hoping the wind would die down so we could go fishing, but it never did. My grandparents came over for ice cream and to say good-bye. As for today, we got up early (9:00) and went fishing for a couple of hours. Then it was time to come home and get packing. That is what we've been doing all day. We lit off a few fireworks at the end of the night and Mo went crazy. He's a big pansy.

We're heading to Emily, MN in the morning to spend some time with the Swartys. Then its off to Austin (the farm) for a few days before we make the long drive back to Sussex. We probably won't have access to a computer until we're back in Sussex. And maybe then we'll update this thing a little more often. Have a great day everyone. much love

Saturday, July 22, 2006

Been A While

So I think this has been the longest we have gone without posting a blog. If you're bored, you can check the archives and let us know :) We've been staying pretty busy with work and what not. A few weeks ago we went down to Morris to help Jeff's grandma get the farm ready to sell. While we were down there, we picked up a tractor which Jeff inherited. He's still not quite sure what he's going to do with it, but it's a memory of his grandpa that he is very happy to have. The weekend after our Morris trip we went down to the cities for our anniversary (it was Jeff's 5-day so we celebrated a little early.) We stayed in the Marquette in downtown Minneapolis. It was a lot of fun. While down there we went to MOA, saw Pirates of the Caribbean 2, went to Como Park, and just relaxed. We also went to church and had lunch with the Swarthouts. That was good time. On our way back up to Warroad we stopped and saw my aunt and uncle in Grand Rapids. It was so good to see them. Jeff had a fun time playing airsoft with my cousins. We stayed at they're cabin on Moose Lake for a night. It is so beautiful out there. I spent a lot of time there the summer I lived in Grand Rapids.

We're getting very close to being done with work and heading back to Canada. Once we're done, we have about a week to spend a little time with family and visit some friends before we have to go. We're looking forward to that. Only six more days of Subgay. I'm so friggin' happy about that. Here are some pictures of what we've been up to. We didn't take the digital camera to the cities, so when (if) I get my parent's scanner figured out, I'll try to post some from that trip. Have a great day. much love becky