Life is a funny thing

Ya know, just when you start to think you're in the right place with your plans, God gives a little smack in the behind to remind you that you're supposed to be following HIS plans. Well, I have been the recipient of a little smack in these past couple of months.

Remember that job at Menards that I was so excited to start? Yeah, that lasted a good 2 months. It was causing a lot of issues that were making my life at my other job, and at home, a nightmare. What I did leading up the job was bad. I ignored God. What pretty much went down was me saying, "God, I'm going to reject your plans and substitute my own." Dumbest thing EVER. I don't suggest doing that. So, to make a long story short, I suffered through the job and ended up quitting. Lesson learned. From now on there will be no "I want" and it will all be "God wants." Through this little fiasco, I learned to trust God a lot more with my, er His, plans for my life. By His grace, He has granted me with a peace that I've been waiting for for about 2 years now. It feels great! God is so good.

Aside from this fun little adventure, my life has been pretty good. I am now the proud owner of a car, whose name is Appa of course. My job at the golf course is going pretty good, including a raise. Yay! Next to that, I'm helping my dad and brother, Bill, coach the high school girls soccer team that Rianne is on. That keeps us pretty busy, but we have a great bunch of girls which makes it very enjoyable. When I'm not working or coaching, I'm either spending my time with my amazing family or hanging out at my second family's (Kausaliks) house.

One thing that I have really gotten into recently is getting into shape. I am working on changing my eating habits (lost 16 pounds already!), plus working out every day. So on top of losing fat I'm gaining muscle. It feels so good to be getting into shape! It has also been nice doing all of this with my friend Rami. As much as we want to die after doing our workout, Insanity, we keep pushing through. I have never been this determined to get into shape. I love it!

As I had mentioned in an earlier post, we had a guy, Duchene, from Haiti living with us. This morning we dropped him off at the airport to fly back home to his family in Haiti. I can't believe that he's gone! He was at our house for 5 months, becoming part of our family. We got to share so much with Duchene: Christmas, the birth of my niece, Liesl, a couple birthdays, Easter, and family. He was truly part of our family and he will be dearly missed. Please pray that he is able to settle back into life in Haiti and that he is able to stay healthy.


 ~Katie~

Soccer!

As the weather is starting to warm up, it's now time to start getting ready for the oncoming soccer season! The two months or so of the season are some of the highlights of my year. I always have so much fun playing and I have a great team to play with, which always helps with the enjoyment factor. The season starts at the end of March, so I have until then to whip myself into some awesome shape!

Being a senior, I want this to be my best year and hopefully get into the best shape I can get into. This means RUNNING! And lots of it, too. I'm also going to be working on leg strengthening (and arms, but I have a lot of that already hehe). There are many advantages of condition prior to the sport you're playing. One is that you will be ready for the game and not get worn out as easily and as quickly. Another reason is to prohibit injuries. My team seems to be prone to getting hurt, so I would like to prevent that as much as possible.

I can't thank God enough for giving some awesome girls to play soccer with! This team has really made up for not playing hockey on a team anymore. I pray that God will make this an extra special year for myself and the rest of the seniors. I know I'm going to miss playing very much, and I'm also going to miss my team.

Showing hope -
~Katie~