Updated At Last!

Wow! This post has been a long time in coming, for which I apologize, but after this everything will be up to date and hopefully you’ll be able to receive more regular updates on our lives…????

Thank goodness that January is normally the coldest month and not December, because my legs would’ve frozen off while wearing a dress…????So when our family when skating on the slough January 5th at the bottom of our hill my hair turned white!
Why do I feel so old???? I turned 17 this January 6th and I’m not sure why but for some reason I feel like I am so much older now… Part of it may be that next year I’ll be an adult – but who knows? To be honest though, my birthday this year was kind of rough… I had been feeling so alone during Christmas due to some issues with being left out of a few little cliques that were beginning to form among my friends. For some reason this was really amplified on my birthday, even though I was surrounded by people (my b-day was on a Sunday this year). So that night I cried myself to sleep and decided that something needed to change in my life. I began making sure that other people who were also being excluded began to get included and made a special point to encourage my girl friends in their lives. I’m not sure if that benefitted them any – but I do know that I haven’t felt as alone since then… I also began to think about God’s love after I heard a ministry message on it. I wrote “LOVE” on my ring finger, and still do from time to time, as a reminder to show love to others because that is one way they can see Christ. Everyone could use a little more love in their lives, so I just want to encourage you all through this long paragraph that you are never alone because God’s love is always encompassing you.
One Saturday morning later and I’m lying in bed sleeping when I awake to the sound of the clip being slammed into the .22, and then the loud noise of the gun being cocked. Three seconds later the sound reverberates through the house (yes, Dad was shooting out the front window) and we finally caught the nuisance of a rabbit that was living under our house… We had so many issues last year because of a different rabbit – which is also dead – so this one had to go before anything happened. My mom skinned the rabbit and now we are waiting to shoot the other rabbit so that we have enough meat for some rabbit stew, which I’m not sure about eating just yet…????
At school our canteen hires students to work during break and lunch hour, as well as at tournaments on the weekends! Several of my friends and I work there and always have a blast during some of the slower, and even busier tourneys as well!!!
And everyone’s favourite time of the school year came around once again… Finals!!! Just kidding… This semester I studied so hard for finals and it definitely paid off! I am happy with my marks – which is basically a miracle because I am really hard on myself – but I worked hard so I’m glad how things turned out!
On Friday we all wrote our last final and so Anna, Faith and Sydney headed to my house! We went skating and played hockey, switching up the teams once one of us reached a score of 5!
It was a ton of fun – but I think the best part of all of all was when we picked up Bryn and went to the gospel meeting where Marvin Dirksen and Peter Ramsey were preaching! Afterwards there was a young people’s gym night and it was a TON of fun!!! Not-so-random side track here: Marvin Dirksen was speaking 9 years ago in Vancouver when I got saved – so it was so cool to hear him speak again!
For National Chocolate Cake Day Mariah and I went to Karissa’s house to bake a chocolate cake! It was great fun and we now consider ourselves to be very professional bakers…????
Once the cake was baked we took it over to my house to eat… However the top layer of the cake was still warm – so it got a slight crack in it – then when we added the icing, another one of the guests informed me that it looked like a cake off of “Nailed It”. I was incredibly offend and politely informed him that sometimes opinions , even if they are fairly accurate, are best kept inside…????
On Monday finals were still happening but since I had already wrote the four I was supposed to, I was finished and got a day off school! My mom and I went out for lunch to D’Barrios and immensely enjoyed our food!
The sunrise on a -40 day just has such a crisp look to it, so I stopped and got Cassia to snap a photo.
When it’s -40 out the buses don’t run but I usually drive into school anyway because I always get the most done on those days…????
With the really cold weather came blowing snow as well! These drifts covered our driveway and made it a rather fun, bumpy ride up to the house!
One of my friends from the hall, Katelyn Carson, took a photography class for her schooling and so I asked her if she’d be willing to take some photos of me as well!
We ended up with quite a few photos but these two were a couple of my favourites!
And then I moved into my new room!!! I don’t know if any of you know this but we put an addition onto our house that included a bedroom, entryway and two car garage! I got the new room because it will be used as the guest room once I move out – and since I’ll be moving out the soonest, I was the lucky one!???? It still isn’t done being decorated – but I’ve got the basics up so that’s what matters!
Fresh snow on the side of the road is so perfect and aesthetic that it drives me insane…???? So after a fresh snow on the way home from meeting we took the road that only we had driven on, on our way to meeting. Cassia and I got out of the truck and ran through the fresh snow. It was so incredibly invigorating!!! I was running with my head thrown back , breathing the cold air, feeling the sting of the freezing wind hitting my legs, and it was exhilarating.
The morning of Friday, February 8th donned on us with temperatures of -40, and a windchill of -51 to top it all off… I drove in to school where a grand total of six students attended my first class!???? Students came and went through out the day but I was getting a little stressed because my friends had been planning on coming to the young people’s at our house that night but they weren’t sure they’d be able to make it anymore… However, God works in mysterious ways and 2/3 were allowed to come, PLUS two more!!!
It was last hour and one of the few kids in my class that day spoke and said “Hey Raquenna, I hear you’re having a party at your place tonight.” So I told him it wasn’t exactly a party but that he was welcome to come if he wanted! He politely declined but another guy spoke up and began asking me about it. So he made a last minute decision to come to the YP – and even brought another one of my friends! So all in all four of my friends that I had invited came along to the Young People’s – and I don’t know about them, but I had a blast!!! Our house ended up being very full with 29 of us all stuffed into our living room… But the large entry had plenty of space fore everyone’s shoes and with the two closets, they could even hang up their coats! (In our old entry way there was a teeny closet and barely enough room for three people to stand…????)
The next Wednesday, Cassia and I dropped Diesel off at the Griffin’s, where he will be until we get home in a couple of weeks!
And then we headed out for an early Valentine’s Day dinner with the girls from the hall who were able to attend!!! There were 11 of us, and it was so good to celebrate and enjoy each other’s company!

January and what has gone by of February has been fairly busy, tiring, and rewarding all in such a short period of time… It is crazy to believe there are only 10 1/2 months left in 2019 because time has flown by so quickly! I would appreciate everyone’s prayers for this coming semester because my course load is a little bit heavier than the last… And yes, I know high school “doesn’t really matter” but it matters to me – and so all help would be appreciated!????

I’m hoping to stay a little more up to date on my blog this coming year because having six months worth of blogging hanging over my head wasn’t a very pleasurable experience…????So I’ll see you soon, and I hope you have a great rest of February!!!

P.S. Peep this video I made for school to get extra marks… It starts off slow – but trust me… It gets better!????

4 thoughts on “Updated At Last!”

  1. John E Fairfield says:
    Reply

    What a beautiful young lady! You are stunning in some of your photos. Your reminder to love one another is so good. It is so interesting as grandparents to get a glimpse into your life when we are so far away. Keep up the good work. Love Grandma & Grampa

    PS your site said your video was unavailable.

  2. Ronda Sturgill says:
    Reply

    I love going through your life. I feel like I’m reading a book and I don’t want to get to the end, looking forward to more adventures????

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