Unemployed!

It's official - I'm unemployed! Everyone else is heading to work, being responsible, continuing on in "normal" and I get to plan my own days. What do I want to do today? It's kind of exciting.
I'm sure my days will mostly fill up, appointments and errands I have been putting off, can be put off no longer. I have to do a better job of packing things into storage, need to soak up this hot weather and there's a grand trip to plan!
It's less than 3 weeks until Chantal and I hit the road the West Coast. I can't wait for the beauty of the ocean, the 101, the mountains, the redwoods. I have to spend these weeks getting into shape, cause I have been lazy since boot camp ended. So I've started into a regular regime of running stairs to get ready to hike.
And then there's the farming to plan, my friend Kurtis has decided to join me, and we're searching out the best farms in California! This next chapter of life will be grand!

Camp?... ...Check!

Camp is over. Camp has been the final mark on my horizon for months and months. It has been the marker of the last big thing to be done in my term as youth pastor. I was scared of it, but I was straining for it to come. And as I knew He would God renewed my strength every morning, and I found the energy, love and creativity to make it through pleased with camp, pleased with the offering. I hope it was pleasing in His sight.
Over the next couple weeks I will tie up details here at work, and finish this chapter. Reaching unemployment, which goes along well with my current homelessness. It's strange to be in a position that for so many is one of brokenness, of helplessness and poverty. And to be here by choice and without suffering or fear. I am arriving where I intended to be, and I am supported on all sides by those I call family. I'm not truly homeless by any means. Just without an address.
One month to go, with some more work, some care of Dakota, more couch-surfing and then Chantal and I set off on our grand adventure, to be followed by my own WWOOF adventure.
I'm considering all sorts of questions and directions right now. And I'm trying to regain restedness. And I'm just about to realize the excitement of this.
And here are some pictures of the last 2 weeks of camp:

Sr. High camp at Jarvis Lake. I even tried wakeboarding!And Jr. High/Kidz Camp at Pineridge.

Gideon

I don't have the power
I don't even have a clue
I don't have all the answers
I don't even have a few

But if I were really honest
And the truth were known of me
It might sound a little funny
But this is what my prayer would be

I don't know what to do
But my eyes are on You
I don't know what to do
But my eyes are on You

I lift my eyes toward the Heavens
Tune my ear to Your command
Help me boast in my condition
You're the God and I'm the man

-Jason Upton

I am in the midst of a lot of unknown, and that has brought out in me a sense of abandonment. Even a demanding of God to speak. Which by the way, He has chosen not to do. Perhaps because He knows that I'm seeking the answer above Him. And He wants me.
The song above, is called "Gideon (Valley/Victory)" and sits smack dab in the middle of Jason's album Faith. The album moves from start to finish as a journey, (as each of his do), and right now Faith is the guide I need to help me have the right conversations with God. This song is a one of those conversations.

WWOOF

In the great expanse of unknown that will soon be my life and my unemployment, I have discovered one exciting option! After the trip down the West Coast (fingers crossed that this will for certain work out, it HAS to), I'm considering taking 3 months for more travel, fun and irresponsibility before I start looking for work and thinking about reschooling.
There is an organization out there called WWOOF (World-Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms), and basically members can volunteer with any of the thousands of host organic farms around the world. You work a few hours a day, get free room and board, meet the locals, see the sights and learn something new about farming, gardening, etc. These are farms are seriously ALL over the world, you can go anywhere, and your only costs are transportation and spending money! This sounds like a riot, I'm just in awe that such an opportunity is out there. And I think I'm going to go for it! Since I've already spent considerable time in Asia, it's time to head somewhere new, I'm ready for another corner of the world, and at the top of list: Argentina! Followed by Ecuador, any of the surrounding nations, and even just America.
So come September I may be saying Adios to GP once again, and hitting the road for something unlike any other adventure I've ever tried. I'm grinning just thinking about it.
PS: I'm looking for co-adventurers.

Cathartic Exercise

I was encouraged the other night by my friend Jen to consider using my blog as a cathartic exercise, even when I don't feel I have any great thoughts to write. I'll admit I had to look up the word cathartic before I could even use it above, and I discovered it is usually related to laxatives. Nice. Well, here I am...

It's not as though nothing has been happening in my life that would be worthy of blogging, it's just not a main release anymore. I think being on home soil, where I tell my stories and my thoughts with most people face-to-face, has made this spot less of a priority. But I'm going to attempt to regain some regularity (regularity and cathartic - great!) just blogging from my thoughts, my musings, my day-to-day.

I guess I should mention that since my last blog I have traveled to Calgary, Victoria and California. Not too shabby for a 4 week absence. I led a group of students down to Calgary to spend 4 days serving and learning at the Mustard Seed, which is an inner-city mission. Our time there was really exciting to be a part of, we were so welcomed and God was doing good things in the hearts of our students. So I was thrilled! Victoria was our annual Staff retreat, where we are so blessed and looked after in an incredible spot on the sea for four great days! That included time on a yacht, sea kayaking, lounging in the outdoor pool, non-stop food and I guess a bit of work in there too - vision casting and prayer. And finally I spent the last week in California - Disneyland! The whole family went, that's 8 of us for 8 days in 2 hotel rooms and we didn't kill each other! I don't think Disney and the crowds are quite my style, but it was an incredible experience and we had loads of fun. I love my family!

And now it's today. Less than 2 months remain in this job of mine, and I'm starting to get excited about what's next, what with all the possibilities! I have had plans, and then they've fallen through a zillion times now. And I'm frustrated, and sad and excited. I think the next step is going to require some big changes and for the first time ever that is a somewhat nerve-wracking prospect. But it's not as though I really want to stay here in Grande Prairie either. My inner feelings are complicated, they contradict.

Amidst that complication it is becoming more and more likely that the second half of my summer is going to be spent with small travels, friends and adventures. I am cooking up a hiking roadtrip down the West coast all the way to northern California. Stopping for some of the best day hikes along the way and seeing mountains, ocean, redwood forests! I am hoping to take sometime at a retreat or with a spiritual director trying to make sense of some of my directional confusion and the emotions wrapped up in it. I've just discovered that my friends Jen and Andrey might be in Alberta at some point and I'd love to see them! And there may be an opportunity to continue my involvement in fundraising and speaking out against sex trafficking in a summer tour. And all of those sound either very fun or at least deeply meaningful.

I finish work mid-July and then I'm free. Free to do these things. Free to figure out where I am in the midst of what I have pursued and what might be next. Free to be unemployed...gulp. But definitely free.

J'adore Jasper

Kayte and I made a Jasper run. We needed some oxygen. And fun.

We ventured across Jasper Lake, barefoot, in April.

Trying to be brave at the edge of Maligne Canyon.

Can you paint with all the colours of the wind?

My sister eats her hair. Help.

Drunk trees.

There was something in the grass!

What's left of the Moberly Homestead on the Overlander Trail.