I am in my new home

The move went really well

and God kept me in His peace,

thanks to His mercy and many

people's prayers.

I am tired now,

understandably

but

I can get to my kitchen area,

my bed is set up

and

I am slowly unpacking.

+++

I so thankful to God

that today

I was still able to walk to Church.

I could not be happier

with what I have been given.

I thank and give glory to God!!

Here we go

I got a truck. More km will be driven. The Lord is merciful.

Just had to mention

hahhahaha

UHAUL messed up my order

and I just found out tonight.

Then they tried to give me a 26 foot truck

to which my dear friend

called me

after an email to him and my other friend

who are fearlessly willing to move my sofa-bed couch,

and he explained how BIG that truck is.

So

I have

NO TRUCK

for my move tomorrow.

I will call tomorrow 7 AM to get

I hope

and

pray

a new smaller cargo van for

8 AM tomorrow morning.

The customer service,

when I tried to get their error resolved

(name, email and phone number all imputed wrongly;

and I was told that the truck and all was set

and IT WAS NOT)

was what I would call

fairly shockingly bad.

HOWEVER.

Other calls to them later that night were all Fine and Nice

and I pray that tomorrow morning

that I will have a cargo van

that is not too far away

and

moving will get done.

++

I realize however that:

Its going to be OKAY.

Yep.

My friend who explained the truck problem to me

was most kind.

And my other friends love me too.

And

well, I packed up almost all my Icons and this reminded me

of how I am not alone,

that I am loved cared for

and can be happy I am moving tomorrow.

Prayers requested for a UHAUL cargo van tomorrow

8 AM or something comparable.

Tomorrow I move

Tomorrow I take Cleo to my new place.

Last night I cleaned cupboards,

swept and mopped my new floor.

It is good.

I took my final pictures of my current

box-strewn apartment;

Thanking God that He gave me a good place to live

for the past year.

Soon I will be unpacking,

finding these candles again,

this Bible,

putting up icons.

Getting used to my desk being against a different wall.

Rejoicing in my newly found bright blue home.

*

I will not have Internet access,

that I know of,

from Saturday-Sunday afternoon.

By Sunday evening my phone and Internet should be switched

and usable again.

**

I thank God for His great goodness.

I thank God for each one of you.

Thanksgiving

To all those celebrating Thanksgiving today:

Have a wonderful day!

+++

I am so thankful to God for His goodness

and

that many are going to help me move on Saturday.

+++

God is good to us and tender in His mercy.

Thoughts Amidst Moving

Everything is uprooted

when moving.

I really want to learn French;

I know this.

But I do not know to what end.

*

I have been thinking over the questions I had this summer.

The what do I want to do with my life?

questions.

**

I told my Mom today over the phone

that I am thinking of

applying

to academic programs

for English Lit

and that French would help me to this end.

PhDs need one or two languages.

French is a language.

***

So I told her,

I am going to try to learn French.

Take eight months intensive courses

apply to programs

see what happens.

At the same time French

can open doors to jobs

in government

and

in

libraries.

I am trying to be open to the varied

possibilities

that may become my life.

But the English Lit question

I now declare

is not

a

closed

finished

question.

****

I have questions about the 16th Century

that I want answered.

This century was a pivotal one for Western

society

and began much

that we are seeing

in fruition today,

good things

and

not so good things.

*****

These are some of my thoughts

amidst moving.

I pray that God will help me stay in the present

while seeking to discern

His will for my future.

Glory to God for all things.

Prayers Needed Over Seas

Over seas if you are in North America that is.

*

In case you did not know,

Ukraine is having huge H1N1 problems,

with possible mutations

and the death of many people.

We need to pray for them.

**

We who are in richer countries,

like Canada, the US or Britain,

are so fortunate.

We have vaccines, strong hospital care.

***

It is good for me to remember

how fortunate I am.

Lord have mercy on the many suffering this day.

Moving days are made of many minutes

My new view!

I got my keys yesterday and took some pictures.

The view off of my small new balcony is quite

diverse.

TALL buildings and cute ones like the

picture above.

So retro, I love it.

My new place needs shelves like you would not believe.

Oh the work to be done...

Like the screen being not in the window...

Love the cute little tile window sill though!

+++

It is so tiring to move and pack.

+++

One plodding step in front of the other,

this is all I can do...

+++

I trust in God's mercy to keep me this week, Amen.

Counting the Good Things

I made my first of many phone calls

about my upcoming move.

And my phone provider (I was on hold longish time)

gave me free minutes for my cell

for the needs of moving

and took care of some other matters.

It warmed my heart,

receiving such great customer service.

*

I have been thinking of switching to vonage

but am still unsure.

My friends use them, lots of good services.

But I am uncomfortable with

the long distance service call centre.

They have a script, do not deviate from it,

always make me feel rushed to join them

(I was on the phone more than one hour with them)

and still am not convinced.

Even though they would save me money

the customer service experiences I have had

are all poor, rushed and make me feel like a meaningless number.

They don't know Canada at all.

They wanted me to use the US .com website instead of .ca

they do not know that Ottawa is the Capital of Canada

nor do they even pretend to care.

**

It is not that I think that my current phone provider cares

per say

but the customer service is from somewhere in Canada,

it feels like coming home

after talking with someone from Vonage in Singapore

{I have nothing against Singapore}

but somehow the service gets mistranslated and leaves me

feeling bad for wanting a Canadian

but also really wanting service that is familiar and

that culturally translates kindness and patience to me.

Sorry for the complaint,

goodness this post was to be about

the Good Things,

like increased cell phone minutes

and the customer service person being refreshing,

laughing at my humor

and giving me a break on my cell phone bill.

So,

moving right along;

another good thing today is while I was on hold with vonage

and my current phone provider,

I read new blogs that are on RW's blog list.

Beautiful.

Artistic.

The photographs captured on these blogs

refresh the soul.

Third thing,

my friends are loving me,

being flexible,

and patient.

And, speaking of Asia,

I went to a great restaurant

and had Korean Bibimbap -

have you had this?

It comes in what is called a "stone bowl" that is so hot

that it will

burn your skin and scar it if touched.

Rice, thinly sliced veggies, beef and a fried egg

with the yolk still runny.

Sorry for mentioning non-fasting food,

but I'm on the old calendar and was with church friends

and our fast has not yet started.

Right now I am just grateful for eating good food,

as my kitchen is being dismantled...

so there is my count of some very good things,

not to mention the relief of not moving too far from where I am now.

I can't tell you

WHAT A HUGE RELIEF

it is to stay in the neighbourhood that I know and love.

***

God is so merciful to me.

Sleeping Beauty

In the midst of the drama of my own

blogged about life,

a few weeks ago,

I saw my first ballet

to celebrate my friend's wedding

that

I attended last weekend.

*

When the curtain began to rise

and

the dancers appeared,

I found myself thinking of Ngaio Marsh

and the novel about her detective

seeing a play where the murder in the play

actually happens.

Marsh's description of the players in the back of my mind,

I began to watch the ballet...

It was very beautiful,

perfect in timing, in the use of props, the costumes.

The sense of a former time created through

this art

was wonderful to behold.

I was surprised at how you can hear the feet tapping when the

ballerinas are dancing en pointe.

I could not help wondering about the lives of the dancers

when they are off stage.

My sense is that their world must be very pressurized,

with very long practice periods

and working with each other to create beautiful art

on stage.

The need for perfection on stage

I imagine is very intense.

Any misstep on stage must be gut-wrenching

to the dancer.

I was also struck by how traditional

this ballet was,

and the juxtaposition of living in downtown Ottawa

where gender and politics go hand in hand.

*

Needless to say,

it was very beautiful and I wished the world of

Sleeping Beauty

was more with us.

Many miles to go before I sleep

Cleo is currently hanging out in her cat carrier.

I think she feels the need to hide

from the chaos of the living room.

I don't blame her.

The above is a picture of her

hanging out in an empty bookshelf,

behind the said cat carrier.

+++

As I signed my lease Friday afternoon,

and the rental office of my building closes on noon

on Friday,

and there various moves happening in and out of my building

this weekend,

I was not able to find out what times are available for me to use the elevator.

I admit to feeling stressed about this,

even though God so miraculously provided my apartment for me.

Not being able to tell my friends who are helping me move

when I am moving,

is wearying.

Oh well.

I hope to get this straitened out by tomorrow.

+++

My nerves are on edge from everything

going wrong

for a few weeks...

+++

I move sometime this week;

I have yet to know who will drive the U-Haul truck

that I have yet to reserve.

+++

May the Lord calm and comfort us.