back from Toronto...

3 weekends, 2 weeks in Toronto...we had a blast! Well...it WAS busy and chaotic, but great. I got to eat SO MUCH Korean food (was really craving kimchee and hot soups) and most importantly, see familiar faces again! There is much that we take for granted in life....and though I do appreciate family and friends so much...I don't know if you really can appreciate how nice it is to have them around until they aren't. So, we got to see my baby sister (and stay at her place on the weekends! a picture of us up above at Niagara Falls) and my best friend from university (also stayed at her place a couple of nights) and it was great...but I do admit that it is good to be back home and back in a routine at the same time. We learned SO much during our course in TO. Language acquisition....who would have thought of its importance?! Whether or not we can use a lot of the suggested things in a place as poor as Niger...well, I guess we will have to see...but we did get to practice sounds (phonetics) and learn about words and their meanings (semantics)...and we get to start implementing some of the stuff here in Québec!

The very first Sunday we were in TO, we went to New Hope Fellowship with Jen and Terry...only to meet so many of our friends from our Waterloo days! That was great...we got in and stood up for a time of singing and I was so excited...to worship God in English and the way that I was used to...but in my heart, I was really excited to be blessed...to hear from God....the worship leader was leading us into a time of worship (James Lee Jr, if you are reading this...I really appreciated it!) and he said something that really struck me....'we are here, Lord, to worship you...that's it...we want to give you praise and that is the sole purpose for coming today'. It really humbled me to hear this because I had gone to church with a 'give me, give me' attitude...yet I was there to worship my King! I guess I needed that reminder...so often I come to God with a "wish list"...like a genie in a bottle...as humans, we do that often. Even in relationships...if I am not getting anything out of this relationship, is it worth it?! Something to ponder....

Anyway, back to work...we are almost officially registered students at Laval University. We have found a new dayhome for Nathan (government subsidized!!! YAY!!) and we are hoping to go and visit our new nephew, Matthew Chen, on the weekend in Ottawa...till next time....