choir tour

My last two exams were written this past Monday, and since I've had a wonderful week of vacation! Between long talks with friends, shopping sprees at IKEA, salsa dancing, and bringing a Chinese friend to her first church service, it has been incredible! I have also completed my minimal checklist at Hardisty pool, so now I can work and get paid there.

This next week will be quite different, as it takes me through Saskatchewan and into Manitoba on the 2006 King's University College Choir Tour: "Goin' Home!" We leave tomorrow morning, and won't return until sometime on Sunday. I'm excited for the chance to deepen the friendships I've been forming with fellow choristers throughout the year.

The day after I return from choir tour, on the Monday, I'll be back in school for the spring session. My first class is "Brain and Behavior" and my second class will be "Stats". These two weeks are a much needed break, and hopefully I'll be all excited and ready to jump back into school!

home

This past Easter weekend I was miraculously able to spend time with my family in Ontario! My sister Emily and I flew back on Friday night, to be picked up in Toronto by my brother Keith and my soon-to-be sister Darcie.

Saturday was spent outside, working in my garden with the rest of my family scattered across the yard and the creek, doing various Spring projects.

Sunday morning we awoke bright and early, or rather, dark and early. We drove to a neighbouring town (where I went to highschool and worked) for an Easter morning Son-rise service. The point was to be in the middle of worship when the sun peeked above the horizon, and so it happened. It was gorgeous! I can't think of a better way to celebrate Christ's resurrection. The rest of the day was spent playing euchre, cooking a turkey dinner, eating the turkey dinner with my grandparents, and having a 'jam session' of the three guitarists leading us in worship.

I loved being with my family again! It was also good - though hard - to see how my mom's doing in her radiation treatments. Another hard part was that I feel much more juvenile when I return home and become the youngest child, the 'baby of the family' again. I'm sometimes scared that all growth I've experienced when away stays away. Maybe it's just another of those refining processes, strengthening me in who I am and who I am becoming. Either way, it was a lot of fun to be with my family again!

Then yesterday was a stressful day, but it definitely goes down as one of my funnest - ahem - most fun memories of the year. Emily threw a surprise birthday party for me, inviting a bunch of my girl friends from here in Edmonton for a murder mystery!

That's right... my birthday's today! On April 20, 1986, I, Meredith Claire Dow, was born. So, on April 20, 2006, I, Meredith Claire Dow, turn twenty years old! Fairwell to the teenage years! Hello... adulthood?!

birds refuse to fly

Darkness invades the sky
and storm clouds stoop low.
The birds refuse to fly,
echoing my soul.

I am gasping for life
and grasping for light,
unveiling my own strife
at descent of night.

Which face of me is real:
laughing in a crowd
or an overwhelmed tear,
my eye a dark cloud?

Afraid to unlock my
own dungeon of wounds,
to find no clear blue sky
only a pale moon.

Will someone come to me
who would really hear,
would care enough to be
with me in my fear?

God promises in His
people to delight.
I crave but can’t claim this,
for what is my right?

Weary, I pray for faith
to need just His love,
but won’t someone come say
a word from above?

And now has come the time
to rise, bless this day,
move beyond this - my cry,
run despite the rain.

leadings

Without my planner, I tend to be lost. I like to have a four-year plan. Each page of my planner somehow gets filled with my scribblings of assignments due and meetings to go to. But I've found there's a beauty to spontaneity. In small group the other week we looked at Leadings of God, knowing when He's directing us to do something or go somewhere. I was trying to keep my eyes open for little leadings here and there, but little did I know just where He would call me!

Late Sunday night last week, as my friend Shelly was dropping me off at home after small group (which has really turned into a house church by the numbers coming out!), I mentioned my desire to be with my friend in Montana. We've joked about road trips all year long, but somehow that night we ended up taking each other seriously. It was after midnight, but after a quick prayer and look at my planner, we phoned up Amanda to see if she was up for a roadtrip. I couldn't believe it! A visit with Bethany was maybe more possible than I'd even hoped it could be! A few more phone calls later, and our bags were stuffed in Shelly's trunk, we'd stopped by King's for a couple good-byes, and were headed South at 2am.

Just after noon on Monday we arrived in Montana. The trip was eventful, but not in a bad way. The 'scenic detours' we accidentally found ourselves on always led to a breath of fresh air from God, from a beautiful sunrise to a perfect dancing-by-the-side-of-the-road-to-the-beach-boys place.

The next forty-five hours were spent in a beautiful state of peace.
We had each needed to get away and refocus. It was wonderful to see my dear friend Bethany again, as it had been almost a year since our graduation from Prairie. And throughout the entire trip, God was wooing us with His love. I had been on a bit of a spiritual and emotional plateau, and this was what I needed to spend some more time with Him. And does He ever answer prayer and work in wondrous ways! At one point He openned a locked door for me. I can try rationalizing it any which way, but the fact remains that He is still active today.

We returned home to some very excited friends. We got to King's in the middle of the weekly Wednesday night worship service, and I couldn't have asked for a better welcome!

Since then, I've been back at school, just finishing off my last few days of the semester. Spring has arrived in Edmonton, so the past three days have been filled with picnics and barbeques.

The next thing I'm looking forward to is a trip home. I wasn't expecting to fly back to Ontario until Keith's wedding in August, but with my mom going through radiation treatment right now, Emily and I are both flying home for Easter weekend! Keith and Darcie will also be driving down from Ottawa, so I'm excited to see most of my family again!

I'm sorry for busy people that this has been quite a long entry, but I just have so much going on right now that I already had to cut a lot out! I pray it blesses you to read about what God has been doing!