Critique class

Well, Let's say it was a nerve wracking experience! It was our first one and none of us students knew what to expect! In this class, our instructors have all of our pictures lined up on the wall from the previous week, they then proceed to tell us what they like and what we could improve on. Doesn't sound so scary when it's said like that, but when you put all your effort into taking a shot, it can be devastating! BUT it turned out to be a pleasant surprise today! It was an hour and 15 minutes to judge all the prints, but I'm happy to say that my print was in the top 6, and had the third highest mark! (There were three of us with the same mark) So because of that, I got to hang up my picture on the "Ego Board", so dubbed by the second years, for a week. Wow! Hopefully I can keep that up! It was definitely a surprise!

Another Sunday, Another church!

This morning we decided to try out a baptist church in St. Albert. We weren't sure what it was going to be like from the internet, so we drove there and were a little disappointed to see how large the church was (not because all big churches are bad, but a lot of them tend to have the "big church" attitude) So we were on guard spiritually before walking in there. But what a pleasant surprise! We went in and sat down and really enjoyed the service. There wasn't a sermon this sunday because they were having a missions presentation. They recently had a missions team go to Honduras. So that was a really good presentation. We came out of there feeling a whole lot better (especially since all of us were in a foul mood this morning) The greatest part about it was that we just knew these people were genuine. That made the whole difference. The past churches we tried out, we just felt that the people weren't genuine about their faith or being welcoming, it was really depressing. But this church seemed promising. We're going to try it again next week, see if the preaching is biblically sound, and then we'll go from there! This week, I'm hopefully going to try one of their college and career bible studies and see how that is to! This is looking up!

In the Beginning...

God created the heavens and the earth. Wow! I had a wonderful evening tonight with my dad. He took me to the space and science center here in Edmonton and we went to a theatre type show about the beginning of the space age. This theatre is not a normal theatre. You walk into the room and it's completely round and there's a big projector in the middle of it facing the ceiling. when you sit down, your chair reclines and you look at the roof and the whole roof is a screen. It's absolutely amazing. During the movie, I forgot many times that I was just in a theatre and thought I was actually in space. It was incredible. It was about the race for space between the Soviet Union and the United States. The most amazing part of the movie was when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldred were orbiting around the moon, on the screen you see the moon on the left, the top of the earth, millions of stars and this space ship in Orbit, and all of a sudden you hear Neil Armstrong's voice (the real recording) from a Christmas eve broadcast reading Genesis. I almost started crying. The whole time I was watching this movie, I kept thinking "this is extraordinary, but I can't wait until I can see the real thing in heaven!" I was just awestruck at the beauty of God's creation and watched the whole thing in wonder! It was definitely beautiful and if you ever get a chance to see it, It's called the Dawn of the space age. Left me completely awestruck and speechless! And he saw that it was good :)

Isn't it over yet?

Don't get me wrong, school is going just great and I love everything about it, but...Isn't the year over yet? This has been one of the slowest times I've ever had to deal with. It's feeling like I've been here for months and months! I love being with my parents, but I miss home. Oh well, hopefully it'll start to speed up now as I actually have things that need to be done in the evening! So instead of sitting in front of the TV from noon to 10, I'll be contributing to my career and society! Hurrah! Let's hope it hits the fast forward button soon!

Sick as a Dog!

Ok well, Maybe I'm not that sick, but I sure feel like it right now! I had a sinus infection a couple of weeks ago and now it's back with a vengeance! I'm feeling plugged up, exhausted and I have a headache as well. So I went to the doctor's to get it checked out today. I'm a little nervous about what he prescribed because the possible side affects are unbelievable! They include the little things like possible nerve damage and tendon problems. Oh also, it said if you start having severe mood changes and occasional thoughts of suicide, stop using it...oh wow! So now I know if i start absolutely hating life because my tendons hurt, I should stop taking my antibiotics for my little sinus infection! crazy stuff. So If anyone actually reads this blog, prayer that I don't get the nasty side effects would be great!

Church Hopping!

Wow! I never figured church hopping would be this hard! Since we've moved down here, my mom, dad and I have been trying to find a good, biblically sound church to go to. We have gone to three churches now and so far, we've been unsure about all of them. We all miss Webster so much and it's hard for us to not compare other churches to webster. BUT with that said, we still have open hearts to finding the right church for us to attend while we're down here. We've been praying for discerning hearts as well as churches now are usually pretty charismatic and unstable. The first church we went to was solid biblical teaching, but the people there were so cold and stand offish that we felt like we were a burden to have there. (the pastor excluded. He often calls my dad just to see how things are :) The next church we went to had very warm and friendly people, but the church itself seemed like it had a little bit of everything thrown in there. We got the impression that they were only worried about the numbers of the congregation (they kept telling us that there were usually more people who attended) and that they weren't really sure of their identity. There was a little bit of lutheran, catholic, baptist, etc influence in the service. The third church we went to was today's church, and it wasn't actually too bad. The message itself was really good and we quite enjoyed it, so that was great. We didn't stick around to long to see how the people were (The pastor is a very nice man and he is also a neighbor of ours) We'll just have to see. We're trying another church next week and we'll see how that turns out! SO we just keep praying that God will lead us to the right church where we can be challenged to grow!

Give Me Jesus

In the morning when i rise
in the morning when i rise
in the morning when i rise
Give me Jesus

Chorus:
      
Give me Jesus
give me Jesus
You can have all this world             
But give me Jesus

Verse 2:
    
And when i am alone
oh and when i am alone
and when i am alone
Give me Jesus

(chorus)

Verse 3:
 
And when i come to die
oh and when i come to die
and when i come to die
Give me Jesus

^(chorus)^

- Fernando Ortega

Second day of college life...and going more broke by the minute!

Whooo boy! I knew going to college was going to cost me a hefty sum, but I didn't expect to spend that much in one day! I still don't have all of my equipment! Today alone, I almost exceeded my limit of $1000!!! If you saw the little pile of things on the table you'd probably ask "How much did you spend???" Oh well, My dad reassured me that it's investing in my future, so how can I argue with that? All I can say is I really need to practice my money handling in the near future, especially if I want to avoid getting a job for the year!

This is what I spent my money on today! minus three textbooks which I left in my locker! Welcome to college, and the career of photography!

First day of college life!

Today was my official first day as a college student! Talk about intimidating. First I started off the day by getting up at 5:40 because I just couldn't sleep last night. Then I drove to St.Albert to catch the bus from there and oh boy. I have never seen so much traffic in one time in my life! I'm from a town/city of 55,ooo people and it was a huge shock to be here. The traffic was backed up down the yellowhead trail all the way up to the corner we turned off of. I don't know what the street was, but what is normally a 20 minute drive, took almost an hour. It was crazy! Then I showed up at 8:15, and I guess orientation wasn't until 9. So I kinda wandered around until then. The rest of the day consisted of tours of our labs and whatnot and it looks to be very exciting! I saw someone there that I sort of knew from back home. That should be fun to get to know her better! Then I met some other people and it just turned out to be a good day! So now I have 8 months left! I can't wait to get started on my pictures! In fact, I'm going to load on my new photoshop CS3 and get editing! toodles!

Family pics...sort of

At my cousins wedding this past Sunday, my parents wanted pictures of us kids because we're actually all together now! So here they are! My Beautiful sister and her husband Terry
Terry, Marlys and Kyle All four of usFunny story with this one, My cousin and I wanted a picture together, So I asked Marlys to take it. She didn't know her finger was in front of the lens, Terry thought it would be funny to walk through just as she's taking the picture (only to catch his backside) and Kyle just jumped right in. So I guess it's a picture of all four of us...with personality haha

Funny quote (maybe more!)

A gentleman is a man who can play the accordion but doesn't. ~Author Unknown

I thought the Kennedy's might like this one. I know it made me giggle...we all know how graceful the accordion can sound...:P

The New House!

Just some pictures so all of you can see the new place!

Mom and Dad in the front yard
The view from the front door

The living roomThe dining room/basement door The Kitchen
The basementThe Upstairs three bedroom doors

and my room!