Finding a Voice
Sunday, October 22, 2006
so much news ...
Wow -- has it really been a month and a half since my last post? So much has happened. I wrote a very long post already, but one false move wiped it all away. When will I learn to copy such things to the clipboard before navigating to another window??? Here are highlights from the past 6 weeks and some previews of things to come ...
- found some needed rest. Need now to establish some good rhythms -- too many late nights already! Mom and I are night owls.
- set up a website that I'm ready to launch: www.siretona.com.
- spoke at a college & career retreat in Alberta for a group from Brentview Baptist (Calgary). My friend Lamb came from Ontario to help with that. Really good weekend. Sold a few CDs.
- gave a Norwex demonstration at Caronport on Thurs., Oct. 12th. Seemed like quite a good show. One of the bookings will be down the road in Mortlach, and the other booking is happening right now -- a catalogue show in California! (With the free Westjet flight from my new Scotia Bank One account maybe I can fly down and follow up in person!)
- led worship with Mom, Aunt Linda, & Dawn Mundell for a ladies' retreat at Arlington Beach Camp last weekend. Wrote my first song of this new season. The speaker, Janice Dearing, had written the words and showed them to my Mom who handed them to me. I looked at them Saturday evening and woke up the next morning with an idea, picked up my guitar, and the tune came quite easily with a little tweaking to make the words into lyrics. I recorded (sketched) it on my cell phone and later was listening walked onto the stage. Gave the women a good laugh explaining why I was on the phone!
- left the retreat a bit early to attend the memorial service for my friend and colleague, Shantelle Almeida. Can hardly believe she's gone. I was on MSN Messenger with her just a couple of weeks ago. She received a clean bill of health at the end of August -- not a trace of cancer in her body. Then an aneurysm took her a few days after Thanksgiving. Life is but a breath. Sigh. Shantelle may have been "promoted to glory," but her loved ones are left to cope without her ...
- stayed in Caronport until Wednesday morning. Started feeling unwell on Monday at noon. Resisted it at first, then sensed the Lord telling me that with the busyness of the previous week my body and soul needed time to rest and shift gears. So I relaxed into it and took the afternoon off. Visited some friends that evening. Tuesday morning I asked the Lord to organize my day, bringing the right people across my path at the right times, and he sure did that. Of course there are people I couldn't see or spend much time with, but overall I was satisfied with the trip.
- have been finishing books. I'm a great nibbler, reading a chapter here and there, with not much fiction in my literary diet. But with the new space in my life I've been reading books from cover to cover. So far I would highly recommend all of them. On Saturday I finished A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute, set in England, Malaya (aka Kuala Lumpur), and Australia. It was so compelling I didn't want to put it down and so beautiful I never wanted it to end. Apparently the movie is well done, so I'll borrow it and other books by Shute from the local library. Of course, now I want to go to Australia. In early September I read For Women Only by Shaunti Feldhahn and found it quite illuminating on the subject of men.
- got in on the beginning of a book sale at the library on Wednesday morning! Life couldn't be better. Discovered a copy of For Women Only (with study guide in it) at the Briercrest library sale -- for only one dollar! Also discovered a copy of Sealed Orders by Agnes Sanford for only 25 cents. Loved this book when I first read the library copy, then found a used copy somewhere, then lent it to my cousin Denise and haven't received it back yet. Now Denise can keep a copy and I'll have my own again.
- spent Wednesday afternoon in Regina with my cousin Marilou (lunch) then my Aunt Sherry (coffee & dinner). Stayed that night in Saskatoon with Janina and saw Melanie the next day before coming back to Spiritwood.
- wrote a c.v., collected some references, and have applied for some jobs in the area of arts and culture. We'll see what comes of it. I've registered with www.elance.com and would like to try bidding on some of the jobs there. Funny -- feel a bit daunted by that!
- need to finish the bulk of my thesis by November 7th. Brad Doerkson, the librarian at Caronport, has been more than generous with my due dates, but Nov 7th is my cut off! Tough to go from two month borrowing terms and unlimited renewals as a faculty member to two weeks as a seminary student, with only 3 renewals allowed. Will have to set the fiction aside for a bit ...
- tomorrow 8 or 9 Briercrest students will arrive to help with outreach at Witchekan Lake First Nation. In August Mom and Dad hosted a summer missionary with Child Evangelism Fellowship to do 5-Day Clubs in local towns. Mom had Witchekan on her heart for this, and when she made inquiries the doors opened more easily than she could have imagined. Then, wouldn't you know it, the missionary, Jennifer, was a First Nations girl from Prince Albert! They held clubs in 3 towns and on the first day had no kids in Spiritwood, about a dozen kids in Leoville, and about 37 at Witchekan. By the end of the week they had 98 people on their contact list including 3 moms and 5 teens. So the Briercrest team will help us with follow-up, holding an after-school club for kids and some noon-hour and weekend activities for teens.
Well, that's an update for now. I'll try to be better ... but don't hold your breath. Seems like it's feast or famine on this blog!
- found some needed rest. Need now to establish some good rhythms -- too many late nights already! Mom and I are night owls.
- set up a website that I'm ready to launch: www.siretona.com.
- spoke at a college & career retreat in Alberta for a group from Brentview Baptist (Calgary). My friend Lamb came from Ontario to help with that. Really good weekend. Sold a few CDs.
- gave a Norwex demonstration at Caronport on Thurs., Oct. 12th. Seemed like quite a good show. One of the bookings will be down the road in Mortlach, and the other booking is happening right now -- a catalogue show in California! (With the free Westjet flight from my new Scotia Bank One account maybe I can fly down and follow up in person!)
- led worship with Mom, Aunt Linda, & Dawn Mundell for a ladies' retreat at Arlington Beach Camp last weekend. Wrote my first song of this new season. The speaker, Janice Dearing, had written the words and showed them to my Mom who handed them to me. I looked at them Saturday evening and woke up the next morning with an idea, picked up my guitar, and the tune came quite easily with a little tweaking to make the words into lyrics. I recorded (sketched) it on my cell phone and later was listening walked onto the stage. Gave the women a good laugh explaining why I was on the phone!
- left the retreat a bit early to attend the memorial service for my friend and colleague, Shantelle Almeida. Can hardly believe she's gone. I was on MSN Messenger with her just a couple of weeks ago. She received a clean bill of health at the end of August -- not a trace of cancer in her body. Then an aneurysm took her a few days after Thanksgiving. Life is but a breath. Sigh. Shantelle may have been "promoted to glory," but her loved ones are left to cope without her ...
- stayed in Caronport until Wednesday morning. Started feeling unwell on Monday at noon. Resisted it at first, then sensed the Lord telling me that with the busyness of the previous week my body and soul needed time to rest and shift gears. So I relaxed into it and took the afternoon off. Visited some friends that evening. Tuesday morning I asked the Lord to organize my day, bringing the right people across my path at the right times, and he sure did that. Of course there are people I couldn't see or spend much time with, but overall I was satisfied with the trip.
- have been finishing books. I'm a great nibbler, reading a chapter here and there, with not much fiction in my literary diet. But with the new space in my life I've been reading books from cover to cover. So far I would highly recommend all of them. On Saturday I finished A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute, set in England, Malaya (aka Kuala Lumpur), and Australia. It was so compelling I didn't want to put it down and so beautiful I never wanted it to end. Apparently the movie is well done, so I'll borrow it and other books by Shute from the local library. Of course, now I want to go to Australia. In early September I read For Women Only by Shaunti Feldhahn and found it quite illuminating on the subject of men.
- got in on the beginning of a book sale at the library on Wednesday morning! Life couldn't be better. Discovered a copy of For Women Only (with study guide in it) at the Briercrest library sale -- for only one dollar! Also discovered a copy of Sealed Orders by Agnes Sanford for only 25 cents. Loved this book when I first read the library copy, then found a used copy somewhere, then lent it to my cousin Denise and haven't received it back yet. Now Denise can keep a copy and I'll have my own again.
- spent Wednesday afternoon in Regina with my cousin Marilou (lunch) then my Aunt Sherry (coffee & dinner). Stayed that night in Saskatoon with Janina and saw Melanie the next day before coming back to Spiritwood.
- wrote a c.v., collected some references, and have applied for some jobs in the area of arts and culture. We'll see what comes of it. I've registered with www.elance.com and would like to try bidding on some of the jobs there. Funny -- feel a bit daunted by that!
- need to finish the bulk of my thesis by November 7th. Brad Doerkson, the librarian at Caronport, has been more than generous with my due dates, but Nov 7th is my cut off! Tough to go from two month borrowing terms and unlimited renewals as a faculty member to two weeks as a seminary student, with only 3 renewals allowed. Will have to set the fiction aside for a bit ...
- tomorrow 8 or 9 Briercrest students will arrive to help with outreach at Witchekan Lake First Nation. In August Mom and Dad hosted a summer missionary with Child Evangelism Fellowship to do 5-Day Clubs in local towns. Mom had Witchekan on her heart for this, and when she made inquiries the doors opened more easily than she could have imagined. Then, wouldn't you know it, the missionary, Jennifer, was a First Nations girl from Prince Albert! They held clubs in 3 towns and on the first day had no kids in Spiritwood, about a dozen kids in Leoville, and about 37 at Witchekan. By the end of the week they had 98 people on their contact list including 3 moms and 5 teens. So the Briercrest team will help us with follow-up, holding an after-school club for kids and some noon-hour and weekend activities for teens.
Well, that's an update for now. I'll try to be better ... but don't hold your breath. Seems like it's feast or famine on this blog!
Labels: Arlington Beach, books, friends, jobs, life, Norwex, outreach, performances, retreats, Shantelle, website
posted by Colleen McCubbin at 9:58 PM
1 Comments:
Hi Colleen...
I feel inspired simply by reading how you write. I sometimes forget in the hustle and bustle of life that I once LOVED to write, I loved to listen and I loved to learn... Perhaps I shouldn't say "loved', because I do love; I just don't exercise those gifts nearly enough...
Glad to hear you are doing well and travelling all over Sask. (and Alberta too - it was nice to see you). Best of luck with "finding a voice" in the arts and culture industry. I know you will do well.
Love Bran
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