It's been to feel like Christmas!

This past week, Christmas has begun to bloom in my schedule. It all started Monday with a date with my sister to find a Christmas dress and start making our lists =) Then, Tuesday was our annual Baking Day with my mom and sister. We baked for 7 hours start to finish! We were pooped by the end! It is such a nice tradition with my favorite ladies!









Yesterday was our 9th annual Farrow Christmas Party! When this tradition started, it didn't have the name Farrow attached to it =) I love hosting a party and enjoying friends from different areas of my life! My favorite part is the opening of the regifts. We bring something from around our homes that we don't want anymore. It is fun to see what people bring!












Merry Christmas...in November!

A update on my wrist...

Sadly, my wrist has been snapping, clunking and hurting more since the end of September/beginning of October. I hated the idea of making an appointment with the sports medicine doc again, who had let me go when he gave me the paper of freedom back in August (to get fully back to work).

I finally made an appointment and waited a few weeks to get in to see him. That was yesterday.

I assumed he would look at me funny, hear my complaint and send me out the door. I prefaced the start of the appointment that I was just there to cover my butt and leave a paper trail if anything should happen in the future.

He felt the snap. Then I did the movement that generally accompanies the clunking. It didn't do it. He started to move my wrist around and it went "clunk, clunk, clunk" every time he moved it! I was so grossed out!

Off I went to x-ray pronto!

Within 5 minutes I was seeing my wrist on the wall in the form of a completed x-ray. It was so fast yesterday!

This is the scoop. There is a bit of a separation between two of the bones in my wrist. He is concerned if the space widens. I have to return in 2-3 months for another x-ray to check that out.

If the clunking increases or has increased pain accompanying it, I gotta get myself in sooner to see him. He wants to wait and see what will happen in the next few months. He "didn't want to press the panic button too quickly". I agreed but hearing that concerns me!

I just don't want to start all over again with all this wrist stuff. It's been such a long haul and I want it to be over already.

Please continue to pray for full healing for my wrist!

There can't be a plan B

This coming January marks the 3 year mark for Shane and I in our journey as intercessory missionaries. This means Shane has worked from the 4 walls of our apartment for the last 34 months, thinning out the carpet on our floor from countless hours of pacing, praying, reading and studying. His hands may not get wounds or cuts from his occupation, as some do, but his knees and heart have the marks to prove his hard work.

Many people think we're crazy. Sometimes I'm tempted to believe the same.

In the 3 years of living out this lifestyle, we had a number of times where we thought, "We could have both worked for a salary that pays well and be way further ahead in the definition of success according to the world". We did the math one time and figured out if we had both worked the first year I was done nursing, we could have paid off all our debt with one of our income and lived off the other within the first year.

A few months later, God blew us away. Yes, we could have done the logical and ignored the call we heard Him call us to and worked off all that debt. But in the big picture of eternity, it was far more wise to obey the risky call that He gave to us. In the end, He had our debt covered anyways, and He knew that from the beginning! The generous giving of other lovers of God provided the incredible $25,000 to cover ALL of our debt last fall.

So, we just can't have a plan B. It is hard not to start thinking that way sometimes. "Well, if God doesn't actually provide for what He's called us to in plan A, let's make our own plan B. Plan B could be letting go of what He's called us to and doing what normal people do to make ends meet. Yes, let's keep that card in the back pocket, just in case we need to use it.".

No! We can't have a plan B. Plan A is following whatever He leads us in. Plan B is following whatever He leads us in. I want a big YES written across my heart that doesn't have fear, doubt and self-sufficiency attached to it. I am foolish to think that I could provide for myself better than God could. I'm not the source. He is the source.

God knows all my needs and all my wants. He cares about the little details. He knows our desires for a home and a family one day. He knows the exact dollar amount that we would need to do work in the prayer movement full-time as a family unit. He knows and He cares! Actually, it was His plan!

All this processing to say, I just want to say yes, again and again, over and over. No matter how bright or dark the next step looks. No matter who points fingers or laughs at us. No matter how foolish we look or what people think or say. No matter how many dollars are in our bank account or coming in through our supporters.

It doesn't matter in the end. My heart growing in love and saying yes to the safest Savior is what truly matters!

Off to Steinbach I go...

First it's supper at mom's! I love being able to invite myself over to my dear mother's when it works out! Steph and I get to enjoy some time with mom, Amanda and Shaun! It should be nice!

Then, it's girls day! This time we are meeting at one of the gal's house in Steinbach. It will be our first time at her new place! I'm excited as 7 of the 10 ladies will be there and I'm looking forward to seeing a growing belly in our midst! So exciting! Girls day is usually encouraging and refreshing!

So, after a day of errands, Sanctuary devotionals and the gym, I'm off to the home country =)

A few rough days and a few good ones ahead...

I worked two 12-hour days the last two days and it was a little rough. I had some heart-wrenching experiences and some sad moments. I know I'm there for a reason as I think I heard the Lord say "I have you there for a reason" when I was using a 30 second prayer time to cry out to Him in the bathroom at work. Without giving details, it was a sad time at work and life issues are on my heart.

I got my Christmas hours the other day too and it's going to be a crazy Christmas week around our place! I have to work nights on the 19, 20, 21, 24, 25, 26! I told my boss that that was killer and so he was willing to make the 25th and 26th nights 8-hours instead of 12 so that helps! I knew that I was due to work Christmas, but six 12-hour nights in 8 days is killer. Oh well...next year should be better =)

I'm pleased now to have my stretch of 6 off! Woo! Hoo! I'm up early on a Saturday after working in order to make some pies for today's belated Thanksgiving gathering. It is over a month ago that we had Thanksgiving but today we are celebrating with Shane's family! Then we're going to try to get to the Santa Clause Parade and I hope that the weather is nice and the snowflakes are falling tonight =)

Tomorrow I'm leading a set at Sanctuary. It has been a really long time since I've done that and even when I did, I didn't do that many. So, needless to say, I'm nervous and insecure and hoping it goes well. Yikes!

That's the latest!

I'm done!

What am I done? Speech therapy! I waited from October 2007 to July 2008 for my referral to speech therapy. My voice was hurting more than usual last fall and so I got the ball rolling to get my talking and singing voice checked out. It was a long wait!

In the meantime, I started taking voice lessons and that really helped! I had the pleasure of taking voice from January to June this year. I'm presently waiting to hear from my voice teacher who had a baby this fall, as to when she wants to teach a few of us again. I'm super excited to get learning and improving again!

So, a few months ago, I had a speech assessment and have had a number of speech therapy sessions since, complete with homework to do at home in between sessions. It is hard to feel like there has been any progress to be honest. I don't always see the correlation between the exercises I'm supposed to do and any improvement in my voice.

But, alas, there has been!

Today I went for my final session, a post-therapy assessment! And sure enough, there is some improvement in the area that caused me the most frustration! I felt like my speaking voice was low, which is fine, but often at the end of phrases, my voice just bottoms out and hurts. The end of my sentences can resemble a growl or crack to my own ears on a bad day.

Apparently I'm very self-aware =) And heightened on the self-analytical side, which my grade 8 teacher used to say. So, I can pinpoint things that don't feel right that others wouldn't notice by just listening to me talk.

So, for the improvement.....my talking voice for both conversation and reading has increased by 20 Hertz! When it was at the low end of female ranges in July, now it is very average to a little higher! That's awesome for my problem with bottoming out at the end of sentences. Now, if the natural fluctuation in range happens, I'm starting from a higher point so that the bottom isn't causing me the same pain!

I didn't think it was possible to change the range that I speak at, but apparently there has been improvement! Yeah!

I do still have slightly painful and more cracky voice days. I'm doing well though and especially with how much I have to talk on my 12 hour shifts, I'm in good shape! Woo! Hoo!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

And I like that! I'm enjoying the snow, even though it has made for some interesting driving and scraping to and from my 12 hour shifts this weekend. It feels like Christmas when that white stuff is on the ground! I like it!

I worked the last 3 days. It was my first Sunday day shift since February 2007. I managed to switch things around or take vacation since August which avoided my Sunday day shift. Now, I've entered back into the season where I have to miss Sanctuary once a month for work reasons. It's kinda a bummer.

But yesterday afternoon and evening as I was working, I would periodically look at the clock and remember SHOP was going on at another location in the same city. I knew who was on stage, what they were singing about in general (intercession or WWW) and knew that they were "standing on the wall" in a obvious and corporate way while I was standing on the wall in my own way in the marketplace at the very same time. I had enough time between patients to remember, add my "I love you Jesus" and continue what I was doing. But it stirred my heart.

Now I get 3 days off! I slept in this morning, as SHOP was canceled because some of our peeps for Mondays are holidaying it in KC, as we did last month! I slept 12 hours! I guess I needed some rest after the last 3 days!

I'm excited for the day. I'm excited to spend time with my husband! We always feel a deep need for quality time after I'm gone for those day or night shifts! I'm excited to hit the gym with Steph and Shane this afternoon and try a class with Steph in the pool! Here we come Aquafit!

It's going to be a good day!

WARNING: LOTS AND LOTS OF FUN SISTER PICTURES!

Here are the pictures from my birthday celebration with my fabulous sister back on October 20 as I promised! Better late than never!

We started with lunch at Steph's! Mmmmm....

Then off we went to the next surprise! Pedicures! Oh so fun! The chairs gave you a massage, the ladies were sweet and the toes were so pretty by the end!







I love pedicures!

Then off we went to grab a Starbuck's in our flip flops so our toes wouldn't smudge! We had a funny conversation with the girls at our local Starbuck's, laughed and headed to St.Vital Park! To fly a kite...even without much wind =)










Back to Steph's to change and then off we went for supper! We had a lovely dinner at Olive Garden, complete with lots of cheese, more laughter and great bonding conversation. I tend to feel like I've bonded with someone I love when we've shared emotions, dreams, struggles, etc. If it's just surfacey, then it doesn't feel like we've connected to me! Steph and I had a lovely time connecting as sisters!




We picked up a movie and our favorite 7-11 candies for the evening and headed to my place!





Thanks for being the best sister Steph and always making my birthday so special!