Wow, I think I almost made a new record concerning the length of time between posts. Sorry 'bout that, y'all. This past month as been really really busy. Which means that it has also been really eventful. I've moved in with my Aunt Linda and Uncle Thomas, and I've loving it.  It's really neat to get to know them better. And last week Robin came to visit me! Yay! Twas a wonderful week! One day the two of us primed some wooden rocking chairs for my aunt and uncle (out in the heat of an August afternoon  *pant, pant* ), so then after that we just had to wash my car so that we could get into a water fight and cool down.   Another day we drove out to see where my family used to live (when we lived in the states). And then the last day we went ice skating for old-times sake, cuz we used to do that together all the time, and that was a blast!  Of course those are just a few of the highlights of the week.

Another thing that happened during the past month is that I think I've found a church to go to here. It's a little church that Ann-Phyllis told me about while I was up visiting her. Thanks A-P! I love it!  And I've registered for my classes this fall. I'll be taking College Algebra (yuck! ), English, Biology, and Psychology. So it looks like this semester will be, um, challenging. I'm kinda looking forward to the psychology, though. I've always wanted to know more about what makes people tick.

Man, this past weekend was great!  I spent Monday night at Ann-Phyllis's house! Yay! So fun! Thanks A-P!

Us on Tuesday in her front yard, and us in her cheery yellow bedroom.

And before that we were in St. Louis for a few days, visiting some Latvian friends who are studying there. That was an awesome time! Like a little taste of home way over here in America. It's so cool how often God arranges things so that we get to be with those who are dear to us, eh?

Ok, here's my latest bit of thinkingfulness (as I sit here all bleary-eyed and sleepy). Why is it that we still wake up even when we're sleepy? Have you ever thought about that? I mean, why can't we just go on sleeping until we've caught up on all the sleep that we should have gotten but haven't yet? That would make more sense than waking up and still being tired, right? Anyway...

Maybe later I'll be able to come up with something more intelligent to write about. Don't hold your breath, though.

I have a car! Wow!  I think I'm kinda still in shock - I can't believe that it's actually mine. My grandparents came and visited us over the weekend, and they gave me a car! It's a cute little 1998 Chevrolet Cavalier. See -

and me and the car with my grandparents -

So now if any of y'all want to come visit me (hint, hint ) then I can pick you up at the airport. Thanks a million Gramps and Grandma! Those words seem so inadequate somehow...

Yes folks, I'm a wimp. At least that's what my grandmother keeps telling me.  Apparently the food in Canada and Europe isn't ANYWHERE NEAR as hot as it is in Texas. We spent the last week at my granny's (yes, we call her Granny ) place. It's always so nice to see my relatives again! I love them dearly, with all of their funny quirks and accents.  We had a fish-fry (a truly Southern-type thing, eh?) on Saturday with a whole bunch of the family. So I got to see lots of aunts and uncles and cousins again, and meet new babies and spouses. Twas a great day! 38 degrees C. in the shade (pant, pant), but great nevertheless.

And I got to drive a car for the first time on Saturday! SOOOOO fun!  My cousin (Brad) and his friend ("J") took me driving in Brad's baby, which is a huge silver pickup truck. You know, the kind that has four doors, and the full bed on the back. It went well. Except that I might've had a little trouble with stopping...  and, um, turning...  and, well, going in straight lines...   But he was very patient, and very encouraging, and it was a blast!  So now to find a way to do it legally....

P.S. I'm sorry that I haven't been commenting on y'all's blogs much. I'm snatching a few minutes on the computer as often as I can, but it isn't even enough tiem to write the e-mails that I owe people, much less read/comment on blogs. Sorry 'bout that.

I went to the Saturday night service at my sister's church tonight and got to operate one of the two cameras that were doing the live-action feed. That was so fun!  Anyway, that's not really what I was going to say. What I was going to say is that the girl who was playing the keyboard in the worship group at church is a girl that I worked with two years ago in Sweden. Isn't that so random? Who would've thought that I'd see her again at some church stuck way up here in this huge town in Canada? That's so cool.

Wow, this past weekend was crazy! And so good!  My parents and I went down to the little town that we used to live in, and we stayed in our old house with the girl who used to live with us (Sarah) and her sis (Shirley). It was sooooo good to see them again!  They're great gals! Then on Sunday we went to a Korean church in Calgary that my dad used to be one of the pastors of (ya, long story...) and my dad spoke in all 3 of their services and then we at lunch with them. So cool to see the girls there that I used to go to hang out with! And then we went back home and discovered that S&S were having a get-together with some of their friends, so we got to join them. After a rather violent game of spoons  and a hilarous game of cheat I left to go to a youth event with an old friend of mine (Robin) where we met with another old friend (Jeff). Them we went back to our house where the party lasted till after 12:30 (ya, that's 12:30 at night ). And then the next day my cheeks and jaw hurt from smiling and laughing so much.  It was sosososo great to be back there, and to get to see some of the people that I used to be really close to. Canada is such an awesome country!

Go Oilers!

Hey, I'm back! The internet at my grandparents' house wasn't working right, so I didn't get to do much online, but now I'm at my sister's place, so hopefully I'll be able to update more often. We got here (to Canada) yesterday, and were greeted by my sis (yay! ) and her mother-in-law. And flowers! They brought us flowers! Greeting someone with flowers is a Latvian tradition, so it was SO cool to be handed some beautiful Gerber daisies as I walked in!

Pretty much as soon as we got here my mom and sis had an appointment with a chiropractor, so we went straight there from the airport. While they were in getting themselves twisted and popped I stayed in the waiting room. I was sitting Indian-style (is it even called that anymore?) on a chair, just flipping through a magazine, and a man came in and commented on how I was sitting. He said that he was a teacher of meditation, and we got to talking about meditation, and God, and whether people are inherently good or evil (he said good, I said evil), and we talked about what love is, and what sin is, and so much other deep stuff. I was amazed at how natural this conversation seemed to be, even though he was a total stranger (we never even exchanged names). He was a very nice man, and there's so much about living a life of love that he understands that even most Christians don't seem to understand, and yet he is so misguided. Pray for him with me, will ya? His beliefs are so close to the truth, and yet so far away...

This weekend was crazy-busy. In a good way.  On Friday my mom and my friend Inita and I went to a wedding of a friend of ours. It was beautiful! (Is it even possible for a wedding to not be beautiful? If it is, I've never seen it.) It was really long, though (the weddings here always are), so we didn't get home till about midnight. Inita spent the night, and then she "left" in the morning, which left me really sad  cuz I was afraid that I'd never see her again (she recently moved back to the village she grew up in, so we don't get to see each other very often). And then my parents and I took Tasha (my dog) to her new home  on our way to "dinner" at someone's house. And then...

Surprise!!!!  

It wasn't dinner; it was a surprise goodbye party for me! A bunch of my friends and my parents had been organizing this for several weeks, and it totally redeemed the day! And they all thought that I had figured it out, cuz there had been soooo many signs that I should've wondered about, but I was contentedly clueless  about it all. And of course Inita had "left" cuz she had to go help decorate. So she spent another night here, and we got to spend more time together.  Yay!

Here's a picture of Tasha, for those of you who have never met her. She's really not as scary as she looks here . I think she was getting ready to attack the camera's flash...

This is the time to remember, cause it will not last forever. These are the days to hold onto, cause we won't although we'll want to. (Words from the song "This is the Time" by Billy Joel)

Yesterday I went to a place called the Tea House for a couple of hours with a good friend of mine. It's a little round house with glass walls, and it's in a beautiful park in downtown Riga. Ya take your shoes and coats off, and sit upstairs on cushions on the floor, and there are tons of big, brightly-colored pillows around to lean against, and soft music playing in the background, and ya drink a pot of the best tea I've ever tasted (they have dozens of different kinds, and they're all delicious!), as you relax in this peaceful, comfy, cozy, cheery environment. It's so nice to take a break from life's fast pace and stresses, and just be for awhile. It's times like this that I wish that I was really artsy, so that I could somehow capture the feeling of that place, and that moment, and share it.