Year-End. New-Year.

It's been way too long since I blogged. I had forgotten how much time and brain-power working consumes. My 5 month vacation came to an end October 27th, as I re-entered the workforce. It was a little weird getting back to the 9-5 routine, but I was happy and grateful to finally have a job...and, not just any job, but one that I love! My commute is less than a mile, and it's so far it's been a challenging and rewarding experience.

The Christmas season brought many wonderful memories to Shawn and I, as we enjoyed our first Christmas as a married couple. I tried hard to keep focus on the true meaning of Christmas, but have to admit that I did get caught up more than I wanted to on gift shopping and the stresses we are suppose to avoid over the holidays. I will be better prepared next year, soI can take in every moment of the magical season and the awesome truth that God came to be with us.

It's been a cold cold winter in Calgary. I never thought I would experience -37 degrees (C or F). That's pretty cold. alot.

We were blessed to celebrate Christmas Eve with Shawn's family and then fly to Houston on Christmas day to see my family. To my suprise and delight almost a dozen members of my extended family joined us from Mexico and Arizona, including my grandparents. My parents spoiled me like a child on Christmas with amazing and practical gifts to keep me warm in Calgary. I don't know what I did before my furry snow boots!

While in Houston we began work on a recipe book of my grandmothers authetic mexian cuisine. In addition to including the wonderful recipes, stories and anecdotes of the recipes will be woven throughout the book. We hope to have the book ready to print before the summer. Our wonderful friend Lydia Jones used her amazing photography talent to do some photography for the book. My mom, aunt, grandmother, and I had a blast cooking together one afternoon. Shawn even took his turn at the crushing the dry peppers with the morterr and pestal. He's so excited about this recipe book.

We're now back in Calgary, setting goals for the new year. Shawn will begin a new semester at Ambrose this week, and I am back to new challenges and delights of developing financial resources for Sonshine Community Services. Sometimes the task seems daunting and I feel so inexperienced, but the Lord encouraged me this week as I received notice that the very first grant application (Mary Kay Charitable Foundation) I submitted on behalf of Sonshine was one of ten applications selected to receive a grant! I've also had the opportunity to work on Sonshine's marketing plan for 2009 as well as begin developing plans for a Spring fundraising event.

I leave you with a picture of us with our friends Adam and Megan. They are our good buds. We love haning out with them once a month for good food and good conversation.

Oh, almost forgot: Happy New Year!

Beautiful Autumn

I'm starting to like Autumn more and more. The colors are so beautiful, and the weather begins to dip, which means another excuse for more snuggling with Shawn. Not to mention the yummy warm comfort food and being able to pick apples from our apple tree:)

I'm now an official Canadian Permanent Resident, which means I can work here without restrictions and hassle. This is good news for the Evans' budget. Shawn started school about a month ago, so we have some how gotten by on his income of only working 2 days a week plus one to two drum lessons per week.. And in case your wondering, we have not used any credit cards. They are not our friends, and we will be happy never to use them as long as we live. We've been happy to learn to live with less, which relative to the rest of the world, doesn't mean much, and to be honest, we haven't really felt pinched or worried for money. God's walked with us through this before, so we were confident that he would take us through again...and He has! We are still blessed with so much, and more than material blessings, we've been blessed with the opportunity to trust and rely on God who gives us the ability to make a living. Also, having to detach from all the "things" that we think we "have" to have is a blessing in and of itself. It's really our relationship with God and others that makes us the happiest, and these don't cost any money!

Case in point, here is some pictures of my wonderful husband and I on one of our weekly dates.


Last weekend we celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving. I really like that concept of setting a day apart to remember all we have to be thankful for. We have so much to be thankful for this year, so it was an especially special Thanksgiving for us. We had Thanksgiving dinner with Shawn's parents, his cousin Stacey and her husband John, Shawn's sister, and our neighbor Mandy. I made one of my mom's typical Thanksgiving rice casserole to share. Not bad for my first attempt.
I'm a good multi-tasker; that's how I can make a casserole and role my hair at the same time:)

Speaking of things to be thankful for, we are very grateful that this week I was offered two jobs, one of which I was very happy to accept! I have just this week finalized my permanent residency and other requirements to be able to work in Canada, so the timing of the job offers was literally perfect:) I will be the new Resource Development Manager for Sonshine Community Services-a womens' counseling center and residential program offering support from a Christian perspective to victims of domestic abuse. I will be in charge of their fundraising and marketing initiatives, and although I'm a little intimidated by all the responsibility I will have, I'm excited and ready for this challenge and the opportunity to learn and serve this organization. And a nice little perk is that my commuting will be almost none-it's that close!!

Although I was getting a little anxious to start working, I realize what a blessing it has been to be able to devote the majority of my time these past five months to my home, my husband, and our marriage. It has really helped me learn the importance of making my home and marriage a priority...the fruit of doing that is so sweet!!!

Shawn is well into his semester at Ambrose University. He's still loving it (despite those late late nights of writing papers and studying)! I'm his official study buddy.

I'll leave with some pictures of a little trip we took to the mountains in Banff, Alberta a few weeks ago.

Go watch this movie!

Thankful

"Praise the LORD. Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever. Who can proclaim the mighty acts of the LORD or fully declare his praise?"

This week we got notice that my permanent residence visa is ready to be issued! I know many of you don't understand how remarkable (and seemingly impossible) this is, so let me explain. My application began to be processed on July 3, so that means that in only 2 months and 8 days it was processed! I was told to expect 2 years by a friend who went through the same process. I remember taking a walk with Lydia one day and hearing how her Canadian colleague's husband was still (after about 2 years) waiting for his visa. At that time, my heart dropped in discouragement, but that began the process of looking to the Lord and not human reason or effort. "We walk by faith, not by sight" the Apostle Paul tells us. Even the more optimistic Canadian immigration website says only 30% of applications get processed in 3-4 months, 50% in 5-6 months, and 80% in 9-11 months.

Not being a permanent resident or citizen has made my job search very challenging, as employers don't want to bother with the time-consuming and tedious process that goes with hiring a foreign worker. Although I've sent out dozens and dozens of resumes and applications, I've only had 3 interviews this summer. With the exception of 1 of these three and an offer to apply for a part-time job by one of Shawn's relatives, my phone hadn't rang for an interview in probably over a month. Suddenly, withing less than an hour from receiving the permanent visa news, my phone rings for an interview. The next day (yesterday), my phone rings again for another interview!

Having a job wouldn't be an urgent issue if it wasn't for the fact that Shawn has started school full-time this past week, which means he is not able to keep his full-time work schedule (Don't you love the timing of it all!) This is why our prayer has been that I would be able to have work soon. We have to give thanks and glory to God who is attentive to our needs and is mighty to work on our behalf when we call to Him.

4 months into our journey together

(A pic-nic at a downtown park. One of our standing Sunday dates)

It's awesome to think that Shawn and I have been married now for almost 4 months, and loving it more each day. What a gift marriage is! I'm seeing more qualities that I love about my husband, and even through the nitty gritty of every day life, I see how wonderful his true colors are. Shawn is a joy to serve and love. So enough of this lovey-dovey stuff. What have we been up to besides having pic-nics and taking silly pictures?

Some days it feels like not much, but then you start writing about it, and boy, it seems like lots. So I'll start with the date after our last update, July 23: Shawn looses his job due to a wrist injury. He is our sole income provider, so we are taken a little off guard, but nonetheless we remained calm and grateful for what we had (and that it was almost the end of the month, so our rent money for August was ready...and that pay day was that Friday). Considering that Shawn only had about 6 weeks before starting school and would need to go part time after that, it was challenging finding a job that would allow him to go full time and then part time when school started. In any case, through a roller coaster of interviews that didn't seem to work out or pay enough to make the bills, Shawn found a great job with an eco-friendly construction company called Friendly Earth. They have lots and lots of work, so the overtime is a huge blessing... AND they are cool with letting Shawn work part-time while he is in school...AND he is making about $350 more a month than at the job he lost. So being without a job for even just 2 1/2 weeks, will make you realize some things: 1) Be grateful for everyday that you have a job to go to 2) Save, save, for that rainy day when you may for some reason or another not be able to work (Shawn and I did have some saving from some drum cymbals he sold on ebay, but we couldn't access the funds from paypal yet. That's another story, but we are grateful now that we couldn't get those funds because now Shawn's tuition for the fall semester is taken care of). AND 3) God is a faithful provider. We "lost" 2 1/2 weeks of income, BUT we would not give that money back, as we were able to see God stand true to His Word once again:

Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life...But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. (Matthew 6:25-27,33-34)

The very next day after Shawn lost his job, we get a "delayed" wedding gift...a timely check from a sweet friend of Shawn's family. The coincidence of this gift coming that next day was a wink from our Father in Heaven that he would take care of our needs. Then came the call from Shawn's mom saying they were trying to clean house, as they are moving to a new home. They wanted us to have a garage sale with their stuff and keep the proceeds. Our friend Adam also brought over some things that he wanted to get rid of. When we tried to give him his share of the sales, he refused to take the money. Next came another timely check from a refund my old insurance company owed me. Not bad timing...again. Then we had the week where by another "coincidence" we were invited to eat at different friends homes 4 times for dinner in one week! Talk about saving a chunk on groceries:) Who gets 4 dinner invitations in one week?? We did! At a very timely time:) So we could go on some more about how God's provisions were so evident, but we'll suffice to say that, despite our moments of worry and uncertainty,we learned a sweet lesson on putting our hope in God and not our jobs, money, abilities, etc. How we had so much more than enough (even enough to get day-time lights installed in our SUV, so it could pass federal inspection by the end of the month) for all our bills, groceries, and other commitments is very awesome.

Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. 18Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. 19In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.
(1 Timothy 6:17-19)

In addition to all the above, I am still doing the job search. It's been a roller coaster ride of its own (and discouraging at many times), but once again, I have the chance to trust God and not myself. The time off has allowed me to continue sharpening my domestic skills. I learned how to make bread and pizza from scratch, among other things. Homemade bread is sooo good. When else do you just want to have bread for a snack. I never did...until now. AND, its cheap and relatively easy to make. I've also gotten to try many new recipes, including some I got at my wedding shower in Houston. (That was such a great idea Jess!) Our little home is turning into a very cozy nook, and we love having people over to share good food with us.

(The leather couches were a gift from family friends, the coffee/side tables are Shawn's sister who is letting us store them until she needs them. I'm also very proud of my $20 Zeller's curtains:)

(Cute dinning room table was provided by Shawn's parents...it just happened to match my colors:)

Moreover, Shawn and I have started volunteering at Sonshine Community Services-a home for women escaping domestic abuse. We get to play with kids while there mommies do their group counseling. It's lots of fun...especially for Shawn. The kids LOVE him, especially the boys. We also have started volunteering at the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association in their phone center during Billy Graham Classics and other broadcasts. A big stretch for both of us, but an amazing experience. Shawn continues to rotate in the worship band at our church Spring Bank Community Church and is also going to start helping out with sound/techno stuff. We are slowly meeting more people there and finding our place to serve. I really appreciate the practical compassion of the church; currently we have a team in Uganda where our church is teaming up to help a ministry there who runs a home for those orphaned or abandoned because of poverty, civil war, disease, and especially HIV/AIDS. In Shawn's other spare time (like right now), he is refurbishing an old Vibraphone he bought for very cheap. These are expensive thingamagigers, so my husband hopes to get a good return on his work so we can replace the windshield of our SUV (It won't pass the provincial (state) inspection without it). He loves working on the Vibes (as he call the instrument), and knows a bit about them, as that was the instrument he was specializing in during college before he found out there wasn't a huge demand for vibe players.

This update is getting quiet long, so I'll wait to share about my Calgary wedding shower and our Calgary Wedding reception for the next post. It's starting to feel chilly (okay, COLD for me), and I have a feeling my "winter" clothes will only make it past November. Today I wore one of my "winter" outfits, and it's only just starting to get cold...brrr.

Speaking up up for those who cannot speak for themselves

"Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves,
for the rights of all who are destitute" (Proverbs 31:8-9)

Kids are cute. Their quirky and innocent ways are like sweet sun rays in the midst of the clouds in our world. Of the 2.2 billion children in the world, nearly half live in desperate conditions.

I know that the poor will always be among us, but I also know that a little guy in Peru named Cesar today has more educational opportunities, health care and supplemental nutrition, safe recreation, important life skills, and the opportunity to hear about Jesus and be encouraged to develop a lifelong relationship with God. All because I chose to send a few bucks a month to Compassion International. I get regular letters and drawing from Cesar, and its been a joy to watch him grow up over the last 7 years.

7 years! Wait Tania, your only 24?? Your right, that made me 17 years old when I started sponsoring him. Through high school on my baby-sitting money, through "broke" college days on my part time job, and now married on a one-income budget (Not to mention I married a generous guy who had 2 sponsored kids of his own). 32.00 a month is feasible for most of us, and yes, you may have to sacrifice a starbucks frapuchino or two, or some cute new earings from Target, etc. I promise you will get way more lasting satisfaction from your sponsored child.

If you are already supporting a cause, that's great, and this note is probably not for you. However, I encourage you to be a voice for that cause.

If you are interested in learning more about child sponsorship, ask me and/or vist compassion.ca (Canada) or compassion.com (U.S.A). I also recommend World Vision and Misson of Mercy. My experience has been with Compassion International, which is why I can personally endorse it. If you decide to sponsor a child, would you let me know. I have a personal goal to find 10 child sponsors by the end of the year. I get nothing if I achieve this goal, it's just something to aim for. However, even if 1 child gets sponsored, it will be worth all my babbling.

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