| Sunday, April 12, 2009 |
| He Is Risen! |
Happy Easter! This has been a great weekend. Friday morning was our good friday service where I had the honor of playing guitar and singing for the music part with 2 amazing musicians which went really well, despite me losing my voice a few days prior. There was also a really neat drama that is hard to explain how it was done but lets just say it was really powerful. After church and until yesterday afternoon my in-laws were here helping us with more house stuff. We finally got a new ceiling put up in the bathroom (The old one was really bad, from the lack of care of previous owners) and got a coat of paint in there, along with the most of the hall way done. In just a few weeks we will have been in this house a full year, and I'm pretty pleased with the progress we've made. We have the bedroom and living room done, with new paint, furniture, curtains, decor, etc. We have an entirely new yard complete with grass and dirt in the shape of the garden I will hopefully be putting in this summer. And now we're moving onto fixing up the bathroom, and then onto the kitchen where we've started pulling the wallpaper down. It's coming along but I will be soooo happy when it's all done! Although that might not be till we're ready to move out in a few years :)
Last night I watched most of The Ten Commandments movie (I missed the first 45 min). It was so fun because I have vivid memories of certain scenes from watching when I was a kid, like the Angel of Death part where all the first borns die and the parting of the Red Sea, but other than that I don't think I ever actually watched the whole movie. Then this morning was church, which was amazing. The music was great, with a brass section and dancing from these adorable little ballerinas, and the serman was powerful. I am reminded today of how, even though its horrible to think about what Jesus went through, he did it for me and He defeated death. He is alive today and with us all and I thank Him for that!
Happy Easter my friends, He is risen indeed! |
posted by jamie @ 1:32 PM  |
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| Tuesday, March 24, 2009 |
| Nostalgia |
Sometimes I get in moods where I want to reminisce. A few days ago with was with my pcitures; i went through pretty much every photo on my computer which included pics from all my outreaches and early ywam days. It all started when my friend Laura and I were having lunch at this cute little Italian place. I'm not sure how we got started on the subject but I was telling a story from my time in Morocco and it got me thinking about how I really tend to compartmentalize my life. I don't know if it's because I've moved so much and usually in blocks of 5 or so years so that it's easy to wrap up all the thoughts and memories about a place and put it on the back burner or what. But it's weird..and maybe like this for everyone I don't know but I just can't help but think about how if you grow up in the same place your whole life it would feel different because even though you probably have different friends as you grow older, you're still in the same place with probably a lot of the same people.
Anyway all that to say, the other day was pictures, tonight it's music. I'm looking through all my old CD's and having a blast putting a bunch of old school stuff on my ipod. And I'm not gonna lie, my Hanson CD is playing in the background and I am THOROUGHLY enjoying it :) And that's the first Hanson CD with mmmbop, not their new stuff. And Yearbook is by far the best song on the album. Anyone else know what song I'm talking about? Come on..admit it...
Here's some old pics I found that I was like...awww
 summer tour 05..i totally forgot we went to DC on this trip!  little Sophia whose like... 4 now? 5?
 this pic is hilarious because it is the first picture of Craig and I. We took it on the timer of his camera. This was before we were supposed to be dating lol
 the triple L's ;)
 Our first real recording! We were so excited. Why do I have braids lol
 One of the most amazing nights of my life. I can't believe this picture even exists. Maybe it does so God can remind me that miracles still happen.
 Picachu and mario! the Porter kids' dream  I love this pic..it was at something in Winkler, a fundraiser I think? Heather asked me to play a few songs and I was so honored :) |
| posted by jamie @ 11:43 PM |
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| Monday, March 16, 2009 |
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| The weather was absolutely gorgeous today. I don't even know what to do with myself. The new season coming up is helping me feel excited about life again. I was just feeling bored...bored with work, bored with school. But new thoughts and ideas are brewing in my head and I'm feeling excited. More on that to come though :) |
| posted by jamie @ 6:11 PM |
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| Wednesday, February 25, 2009 |
| Lent |
| I've decided to participate in Lent this year. I haven't for a few years and felt like I had missed out so this year I'm jumping on board. I wasn't sure what to give up though - lots of things are going around, like giving up something computer/internet related, which in all honesty would make me crazy - facebook is the number one way of keeping in touch with people for me! I didn't want to do something like give up chocolate because in the past when I've done that then as soon as lent's over I go into a diabetic coma from gorging myself on sweets (okay I've never been in a coma but you know what I mean). So this year I'm doing 2 things, the first is giving up eating anything after 8 pm which is partly a health thing but also i find that is the time when I feel the most out of control with eating. The second is that I'm trying to stop swearing. Anyone who doesn't hear me speak every day might be surprised that this is somethign i have to give up, however unfortunately I swear like a sailor now...lol I hear it all day every day at work and it's embedded itself not only into my language but into my thinking. So I am really going to try and cut this out, although just today I've swore out loud 6 times so I'm not doing great. But I imagine it will take time :) |
| posted by jamie @ 4:09 PM |
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| Saturday, February 14, 2009 |
| 25 Things |
So there's this thing going around facebook..where everyone writes 25 random facts about themselves and then posts it for their friends to see and do the same. I did it and thought I would stick it on my blog partly as a keepsake for myself to look back. So here are my random 25 things. They are very long but I actually put a lot of work and thought into them.
1. I am an eventual-conformist, as opposed to a non-conformist or conformist. I hold out long enough that it’s ‘old news’ for the conformists, and it’s ‘giving in’ to the non-conformists. Hence, why I am doing the 25 things thing now.
2. I love my family and talk to them all regularly. I realized my parents were cool when I was about 19 and my relationship with them has only grown since then. My brother and I talk over the net weekly if not daily, and I think he’s probably one of the coolest people in the world. He’s got mad skillzzz that I’m jealous of :). I am also extremely proud of him.
3. Music is a tremendous part of my life. I always have a song in my head, always always always. I’ve played the piano since I was 10, guitar since I was 16 and have been singing since I was a wee little one. I’ve been able to record a few times, once professionally which I still hold as one of my favorite moments in life.
4. My brother and I made my parents a CD for Christmas, it has 11 songs on and we made the music and did the vocals for all of them. We started it last April and worked on it all year, it was a HUGE project and turned out amazing. I was so used to keeping it a secret from my parents that I haven’t mentioned it to anyone, until now. I can’t believe I haven’t talked about it more! It’s awesome!
5. Music inflicts extremely strong emotion in me. There have been many times where I’ll be walking somewhere listening to my ipod (or before that, my diskman…before that, my walkman) and a song will come on that brings me to tears and I have to just stop and soak it in. It’s not always the words that get me but there are moments musically where it just moves me in a way I can’t even describe. I’ve also spent many nights where I’m trying to fall asleep listening to music but I end up laying there for hours skipping to all my favorite songs. There is nothing like being completely relaxed, in pitch black and having one of these songs playing loudly in my ears. On the hand though, there are parts of songs that come on the radio or at work that I actually hate. Like, when they play I feel angry and almost sick. It’s crazy and Craig makes fun of me about this.
6. I’ve been in 2 car accidents, the first when I was 17 and the second when I was 20. The first one was serious, causing the death of 2 people, the second only a fender bender. However, it was the second that put me in a deep fear of getting behind a wheel again. I didn’t drive for nearly 2 years afterward and though people knew I wasn’t driving, for the most part I kept it a secret of how intensely afraid I was of dying in a car accident. Driving to me now is normal again, but when it’s snowing out I can panic easily.
7. When Craig is not home for dinner, I eat the same thing almost every night. I mix together black beans and corn, along with some taco seasoning and cheese and fry it in a tortilla. I have been doing this for years and I can’t believe I’m admitting that I still do it to all my old roommates that are probably like….you STILL do that????
8. I’ve only ever had 2 boyfriends before I met Craig. One was for a month my sophomore year of high school, and the other was when I was 19-20ish. I knew I wanted to marry Craig the first day we ever hung out. I immediately imagined a life with him and knew I wanted that. We got engaged 9 months after that day, married one year after getting engaged, and have been married now for a little over 2.5 years and I so look forward to the rest of my life with him.
9. I’ve moved around a lot. I was born in Davenport, Iowa, lived there till I was 5. Then I moved to Waunakee, Wisconsin and lived there till I was 11. Half way through 7th grade we moved to Tomahawk, Wisconsin where I lived till I was 17. The summer after graduating high school, my family moved to Granville Ohio and I went to Vancouver, BC, for a 5 month long program. I came back for the summer and lived with them, then moved to Vancouver till I was 24. Now I live in St. Catharines, Ontario, and I’m 25. That’s a lot of places.
10. Because of my moving around a lot, I’ve been able to experience a lot of different places, houses and sub-cultures which is neat. However it has left me with a feeling that I don’t have a home base like others. For the most part, where my parents live is my home base now because they are there. But all the places I went to school are places where I will probably never return to except for a visit here and there, and sometimes I feel jealous of people who were born and lived in the same place their whole life. I have no idea what that would feel like.
11. I made the choice to become a Christian when I was 14 and it has had a lasting effect on me ever since. Though there were obvious rough patches in my teen years and even adulthood, that one decision has always remained strong in my mind and I feel without a doubt that God is real. There is a clear distinction for me between my old way of thinking and feeling, verses after I made that decision, and even though I don’t always “feel” it, I know I am not alone. I am not one for religion and rules, but definitely believe you can have a personal relationship with the Creator.
12. I wish I made friends more easily. I tend to react to first impressions and write off people whom I could probably become really good friends with. But when I become close with someone, it’s for life. I may not see them any more (from moving away) but still refer to them as one of my best friends and think about them regularly. I also need a group of friends around to hang out with, but without that one or two close close friends I feel lost and if we’re in a fight, I am miserable. I remember in high school when I was in a fight with one of my 2 best friends, life was absolute hell.
13. I started a blog in 2005 and posted pretty much weekly until about 6 months ago. The blog is precious to me, it is full of pictures and moments from the past 3 years, and I wish I could keep up with it like I used to. I don’t know why I don’t anymore, I still think of things I want to post but just don’t get around to doing so. It’s www.chaosandorderblog.blogspot.com if you wanna check it out.
14. I was never a huge gamer, but I always loved Nintendo, since that was what we grew up with. My brother and I even talked recently about how we loved some video games, but weren’t “gamers” because we didn’t play weird things like World of Warcraft. We really said this exact phrase (remember that conversation Jason?). But alas, I spoke too soon. Some friends at work talked me into to trying the demo of WoW and I was hooked instantly. I have been playing for about 3 months now and it is one of my favorite and most relaxing and exciting past times. I have a level 53 character, who is a Priest that can heal others. It’s an extremely social game and is SUCH a blast; I even got my brother into it a bit. He is a Cow that fights with a big ax lol……. All I can say is, don’t knock it till you try it.
15. I love techy gadgets, which I get from my dad. I am always wanting something that will make the technology I have better, faster, or more convenient. I am fairly computer savvy and try to keep up with the newest things out there.
16. My brother already used this one but I want to say it too cause it’s funny. My mom is so hilarious and gets obsessed with tv shows, movies and actors. She’s always had a favorite thing of that year, sometimes they stretch over a period of years or last a short while. The biggest in my memory was Lord of the Rings. She has several life-size cutouts of LOTR characters in the basement, multiple posters, action figures, and many different copies of the books and movies. It was a HUGE thing in our house for many years. Now, it is smallville. My mom loves smallville and everything superman, which is now the icon you see throughout their house. You can always tell what she’s into by the calendar for that year. The past couple have been smallville, before that, harry potter, LOTR and before that, maybe star trek. I can’t remember. I also grew up riding in our family van with the license plate, “WARP 11”.
17. I have inherited my mom’s obsessive personality and pretty much do the exact same thing. Some of my obsessions, dating back to the 8th grade include: Whoopi Goldberg/Sister Act, Bette Midler (and all her movies but mostly Beaches), Mariska Hargitay/Law and Order:SVU, Harry Potter, ER, etc. Mariska has probably been my favorite of them all, I even have an autographed photo of her, that’s addressed to me and I still read fan sites about her. I have also caught a few of them by-proxy from my mom, such as LOTR and even Harry Potter, which I completely lost myself in for a few years and cried when the 7th book ended because I couldn’t imagine my life without new Harry Potter books coming out.
18. I am long winded when I write.
19. I volunteer at a program called Celebrate Recovery at my church every Friday night. It is an addictions recovery program based on the 12 steps of AA, but with the Higher Power being God, and basing the steps on biblical principles. It is really a neat program where lots of people have been able to recover from various things and then go on to help others.
20. Having kids intrigues me but also frightens me. I can’t believe I could be responsible for another human being in such a real way. I look forward to that day, but in a “im glad it’s not yet” kind of way. Sometimes when I hold babies or see cute baby clothes at work, I want one. But that fades quickly.
21. I’ve always been a borderline pyromaniac. Fire and melting intrigues me to no end. If a candle is near, I must play with the wax. If I’m at a campfire, I must be poking it with sticks and catching them on fire. This semi-obsession lead me to make one of the stupidest decisions of my life that my parents still bring up. When I was like 9 or something, we were camping with another family and the kids were sitting around a fire. My parents had bought this brand new big tent thing to go around the picnic tables and keep the food in, which was made out of this netting to keep bugs out. The coolest thing about it though was that when I took my stick that I had started on fire and poked it through its walls, the netting would instantly melt away into these big holes that kept getting bigger and bigger. It looked really neat and I was amazed at the effect the fire had on it. Needless to say my parents did not share my interest in my scientific discovery and I was made to stay back at the campsite while they took all the kids swimming. It was traumatic and I didn’t understand why.
22. I dabble in artistic things without ever really committing to them. For example, photo editing, video editing, photography, scrapbooking, drawing, painting, etc. The only one I ever stuck to and practiced for the sake of improving was music.
23. I want to help people in my career someday, but I don’t know who or how or what. I have changed my mind millions of times so now I sort of just take the attitude that whatever happens, happens.
24. I feel awkward and tired of talking about myself so I am gonna stop at 24. I'm also going to tag as many or as little people as I want to. Take THAT, non-conformists! Labels: 25 things, facebook |
| posted by jamie @ 9:40 PM |
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| Monday, January 26, 2009 |
| In Remembrance |
Today is an anniversary of something I haven't talked about in a long time, but for some reason this year I feel I should. I feel I should remind people about two lives that were taken 8 years ago on this day. These years have passed by so quickly for me, but for the two families that lost their son/brother I am sure that is not the case. I warn you that this is not going to be one of my normal posts, however I feel it is important.
8 years ago today, we were let out of school early because of snow, which was exciting because that meant our church youth group could leave earlier for our trip down to Winterblast. I was one of the drivers in a line of cars all filled with excited youth off to a weekend of fun. It was me, my best friend Sarah in the passenger seat, and 2 really hyper young boys in the back seat. Cody, 14, was one of my bass players on our youth worship team and was hilarious. Andy, 13, I had recently gotten to know from an earlier trip to mexico, he was a really sweet kid. They both had pretty big, incredibly loving and caring families that all went to our church. About 30 min away from our destination, my car slipped on some ice throwing us into oncoming traffic. My car was literally torn in 2, the front half going into the ditch and the back half was thrown about 40 feet away. Cody and Andy were both killed, Sarah and I walked out of it basically unscathed.
I was looking through my old journals just now, trying to find my pictures I have of Cody and Andy. I can't find the photos, they must be in a box somewhere, but I came across a journal entry I wrote on April 16, 2001, less than three months after the accident.
As my mind unwillingly flows in and out of the accident, I feel the car slipping on the ice... I hear myself shouting for everyone to hold on...I see the other car coming. I know something is not right. I close my eyes as I give up control to nature. My ears ring as I hear the crash. The sound stays in my ears to this day. I remember the dusty air bag, I remember the cracked windshield and the wipers still going back and forth. I remember just staying...how long did it take for me to realize that my life and many others would never from that day on be the same? I finally look to the right of me...Sarah...she is breathing...panicking. I unbuckle myself and then get her out of her seat belt that is choking her...and then, we realize.
Scanned from my Journal, written Feb 5th 2001 |
| posted by jamie @ 8:44 PM |
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| Wednesday, January 21, 2009 |
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Wow a whole month of not posting! And that was over my break even! Crazy... well unfortunately I think blogging just for the sake of blogging is not what what it used to be.
Here's my thoughts on the way communication has gone with my generation:
first it started out as writing letters. I remember as a kid writing and mailing and receiving letters from friends who lived far away. Then when I was about 13 or 14 I got my first email address: ilovejesus4@hotmail.com. Awesome! Bye bye letters, hello email - still writing individually to people though. This one held out for a really long time as the main way of communication, but then the whole blog thing came about where you could update the masses in one post, as opposed to emailing them personal letters or even newsletter updates. The blog way of communicating with friends was fun and lasted about 2 years - and the personal part of it came with commenting on each other's posts. But, again technology advances and now I believe that the main way of communicating with the masses has now dwindled down into our one sentence facebook status. "Jamie: just got back from vacation and had a blast" or "Jamie: is sick of snow" or Jamie: wants to play World of Warcraft instead of doing homework". The first one is not true (wish it was!) but the others are :)
Anyway thats my thoughts on that. All that to say - everyone should have facebook so you can know what I am doing/thinking/feeling and I can know what you are doing/thinking/feeling by our status updates.
So now that that's out of the way, life for me is pretty mundane. I work a lot less now - even though the business of christmas was crazy for me, I was at least working 40 hours then and now this week I only have 20 because the store is dead. The whole mall is dead really. It really stinks! Work is okay, although now that my responsibilty has increased so much it's definitely not quite as fun as it used to be. It's a lot more work now. But it's pretty good. School started this week, I am taking 3 classes: Human Development, Human Services Delivery, and Attachment and Identity. So far all three seem very interesting, I especially am excited about my Attachment class.
And WoW is going great - got to level 44 today! Let me know if you wanna try it out, I'll send you a friend - referral email with a 10 day trial. It's such a blast! Well, I will leave you with a screen cap of me (my character) flying from one city to another. See how fun it looks? :) For all my friends who like Lord of the Rings and things like that, watch the trailer for the game here - it might pique your interest :) |
| posted by jamie @ 10:33 PM |
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