Yikes!!

i just realised my last post is INSANELY long, but some of it is pretty humourous if you take the time!!

It's raining men, hallelujah!!!!

Ok, I give in to the peer pressure, and all the other girls seemed really cool and funny when they posted their lists, so that will make me really cool and funny too, right? right. anyway, here goes, and probably no one will know some of them, but whatever.....

1) some guy who went to my school in scotland when i was about seven. i don't even remember his name, i just know that he was like 4 years older, and he had that blond, floppy hair with the part down the middle, and i used to chase him, and he would climb on the roof of the bike shed to get away from me.

2) scott mitchel when i lived in england, he was in my class and lived a few streets over, so i used to ride my bike past his house all the time, and once i was with another girl, and he saw us i think, and we went into his back yard and he had 18 rabbits in cages. i'm not really sure why.

Disclaimer: when i moved to Canada, I became a little bit boy crazy, and i have no idea what the correct order for these next few were, i'm pretty sure at least some of them happened at the same time as others!

3) Mark and Jonathan Abraham, for about a week... my first year at camp, i was 11, and i thought they both were so cute!! of course, one was a counselor, and one was younger than me, but oh well. mark and winston used to always get me to say 'it's a bonny cereal, but it's not oatmeal', cause they thought i did it in a good scottish accent. only at that time, i had an english accent, but whatever works!

4) Johnny Poirier- i don't know if anyone remembers him, he was from margaree, there were quite a few poirier boys. anyway, i think he was a year or so older than me, and he had a mohawk once. i think sarah fenton got really sick of me going on about him. his younger brother ryan i think had a crush on me, and his way of showing it was running INTO the old girls bathroom at camp, and dumping a bucket of water over my head, which made the dye from my red shorts run all over my tucked-in white t-shirt and turn it pink. i was not impressed.

5) Fraser Hart. somewhere in there. pretty sure everyone did at some point, way back when. oh, i have a picture of him giving me a piggy back at big-better-best!!!

6) Rick Burton, also somewhere in there. probably these two were at the time when some 'sydney girls' were dating them, and we were all jealous! of course, we also were about 13 at the time, so not really much competition!!!

7) Jordan Ingraham- for like 3 years, until i 'met' someone else, at which point i think he started to like me, so then it was really awkward, and i started to perfect my avoidance strategy with guys, which served me pretty well over the years! sometimes i wasn't very nice!

8) Justin Hebb- how i 'got over' jordan: came up from Halifax with a bunch of guys to talk to Stephen Fenton, and all us Margaree girls were in heaven. for some reason, all these 17 and 18 year olds thought we were cool 15 year olds, and wanted to hang out with us! it actually was the beginning of some great friendships, and we all used to write letters back and forth. unfortunately, justin liked sarah fenton, but his friend dave liked me, and told me one day over the phone, at which point, by some miracle, the phone got all static-y, and i had to hang up. seriously! i was thanking god that i didn't have to reply right then! i let the guy down easy later on :)

9) Corey Goulding- the newfie. i was 15, and i think he was 16, and he came over and worked at camp, where i was working. i thought he was SO hot. i guess he liked me too, and we broke PC at camp, and held hands under a blanket at the camp fire, and he told me he liked me. Then he went back to Newfie land, and never talked to me again, even though i tried to write. and then fraser hart kept telling me that he was a jerk. anyway, next summer he came back again, and things got re-ignited, and we started dating. he used to stay at my house on the weekends. he was my first kiss, it happened while watching Austin Powers, i believe. how romantic. Cathy MacLeod was the cook at camp that summer, and she helped along the relationship by stealing a picture of me, getting it blown up, and giving it to him, hahahaha!!! He was a really funny guy, and did stupid things like try to head-butt the earth ball, and dropped like a sack of potatoes and got a neck injury, and jumped off the conveyor belt while holding a beach ball and broke a rib, and once he told me he bought a tanning lamp at value village and fell asleep under it, and got third-degree burns! i'm surprised he's survivied this long actually!Anyway, he was my first relationship, and we stayed together long-distance for a few months, before i called it off for some reason. i forget why. we still talked a lot on the phone for years after that. i saw him last summer, with his wife and baby, he's a cop in pictou, go figure. a really nice guy, that corey is, if a little eccentric at times!

10) Jon Muise- hottest guy in my highschool. i had a crush on him for years. people would tell me that he liked me too, but nothing ever happened. in grade ten, his friends were telling me that he would ask me to our prom, so i waited and waited. two days before the prom, i finally asked him if he would go with me. so he said 'yeah, i was gonna ask you tomorrow'. people, this was TWO DAYS before the prom!!! anyway, people took tons of pictures of us before the prom, and the next year, hardly anyone did, so i'm pretty sure they just took shots of him and cropped me out of them, i was pretty excited though! i think we held hands once, and we slow-danced to 'lightning crashes', sigh.

11) raffi turnbull- another guy at school, this was grade 11. we became good friends, and started hanging out a lot at each others houses, and then he really liked me and i kind of like him, and he came to church with me, which i was really excited about, and we kissed a few times, and then i went away on a mission trip and broke whatever it was off when i came home, and he was really hurt, and didn't talk to me for like a year. so i really regret doing that, he's a really nice guy.

12) ithink the summer after grade 12, i liked a lot of guys at one time, just fleeting crushes, i can't really remember, but josh carabin was in there somewhere, only he was i think 14 at the time, and then at pretty much the same time... ian elsinga! who was 30 or something! i forget. I spanned the whole age gap i guess... so i never could imagine myself only liking one guy at a time, and then at the end of that summer.......

13) marc jolicoeur- the hot bass player in present reality, they lead worship at teen camp for a few summers. he seemed like a super cool guy, and i remember thinking that if i was with him, i wouldn't like anymore guys. well, we talked a couple of times, but he was pretty shy. i went home, and one day he emailed me!!! susan hart gave him my address! i called everyone i knew, and ran around the house screaming, i was so excited! so we emailed a lot, and then he came to my house after christmas, and then i went to his in halifax for new years, and on new years eve, on the waterfront of halifax, he asked me officially to be his girlfriend. i said yes, but then i left to live in amsterdam on january 5th, for 6 months! so we long-distanced it for the whole time, and when i got back, spent a couple of weeks together here and there, in the summer and then in the fall. again, i broke it off in november, just short of a year, and we actually never kissed once. although we weren't actually together very much, i guess it was pretty serious for both of us. anyway, marc is a really awesome guy, and someone who i respect hugely, and i learned a lot from him, and i'm thankful for that experience, and this is the one relationship which i don't regret, but of course i am sorry that he got hurt when it ended, that's something i wish didn't have to happen, but i guess there's really no way around that.

14) Winston MacEachern- we were friends for like forever, and talked on email all the time for several years, and then the summer before i went to university, i knew he liked me, and people kept trying to get us together, and then i started to like him, yada yada yada, and then we were official for a few months, and then i moved to uni in NB, and he was also in NB, and i think i got a little freaked out. anyway, i broke it off the nicest way i could, but things were pretty bad for a long time, but then we worked it out, and are friends now, and i'm SO happy for him and alicia, they make a great couple!!

At this point, i started to get called a 'serial dater and dumper', and i think probably some people though i was pretty heartless, but i only had three real boyfriends, and when something is just not meant to happen, it should be ended. i always tried to do it in the best possible way, but of course people get hurt. unless someone was really mean about breaking up with someone, i will never hold it against them, because sometimes it has to happen. i never meant to hurt anyone, and i'm sorry that i did.

15) so, i'm at university, and then i lived in charlottetown for a couple of summers, and i had crushes on a few people, but nothing serious, and mostly just stupid.

16)Joe Cook, woo hoo!!!! for those of you who don't know, we met my first year of uni, we were in residence together, and were good friends for two years. he had a girlfriend the whole time, so i never thought anything of it, but i did secretly have a crush on him for a while. NOT when i was dating someone else though, this came after! anyway, bad start to the relationship actually, we kissed once after second year, when him and his gf had broken up. so then she found out, and started to come back on the hunt again. anyway, eventually they broke up finally, again, and we mended friendships, but i never really thought anything of it. little did i know that he really liked me, and we started to hang out more when we got to school for third year, and then started to date, even though he wasn't a christian, and i knew better. at this point, i didn't really care, and i was starting to fall in love, which i honestly never had truly before. anyway, good ending to a bad beginning, God decided to flood us with his grace and blessings, in spite of everything, and Joe was saved, and really then i knew he was the one, and we got engaged and now married! the whole thing was a pretty amazing story, you should ask him about it if you get the chance.
So, i've always been a super-independent person, and a big fan of long-distance relationships, where you can talk with and lean on the other person, but not be smothered. whenever they got too close, i'd usually end it. which is why i still cannot believe how much i love this guy! and i cannot believe we are married! when i think back to when we first knew each other, it is crazy! every day, we are like 'i cannot believe how this all worked out, i cannot believe we are married!'anyway, i love him to bits, and i've learned SO much through him, and what God is doing in his life.

I definitely never thought i would be married to a lobster fisherman from wallace, whom I met at MTA, but sometimes God does know best!!

so, that's all i can think of, but there are definitely more one-day crushes and that type of thing, but too many to remember.
hope everyone had fun reading, sorry it was SO long, i just got on a roll, hahaha!!!

Good news!!!

Well, we both have been blessed over the last few weeks since we've been here, so I figured I'd share a little of what has happened...
1) Joe got a job today!! he's landscaping for 50 hours a week or so, for the month of June. This is perfect, because his french course at Dal starts at the beginning of July. The company said they may be able to keep him on part time after that too, so that would be awesome. Otherwise, we have another month to find a new part-time job. We are super thankful, 'cause it was getting down to the wire with finances etc., but i'm a teeny bit jealous, because he handed out like 6 resumes and got this job, and i think i'm pushing close to 65 now!! crazy! i have blisters from walking around today, applying everywhere! I know it will happen though!

2) We have found a church/community that we really like. We were really praying before we got here, that we would feel at home in a church, and meet some really great people to encourage us in our walk and relationship, as we were missing that somewhat in NB. So...we ended up at the vineyard church in sackville, and the people there have been SO great to us. We've been to church twice, a small group twice and a newcomer's night. So welcoming and encouraging, and God is working in people's lives there, it's really cool to see and be a part of.

3) family. my sister em is living nearby us, and we have spent quite a bit of time with her, hanging out, and she comes to church with us too. she's been a good connection to other people here, and it's great to get to know her better. she's awesome. and my other sister naomi is moving here next week! wahoo! all the 'hunter' girls in hali! i wish my bro could come too, we'll miss him this summer. we see my parents fairly often, maybe they'll move down here too!

4) SUMMER!! we spent all of sunday relaxing by a lake in sackville, i even went for a swim, it was beautiful! other people were swimming there too, so we figured it was safe, but we've been warned not to swim there later in the summer! hopefully we'll make it to a beach someday when we have a job and days off!!! I LOVE the sun! although i am trying to be very careful about it this year, i figure it is a good idea to listen when people say how harmful it is. but it is SO hard, i just want to be out in it all the time!

5) Joe. we've been pretty much stuck together 24 hrs a day for the last month, and i still cannot get over the fact that i haven't gotten sick of him yet! seriously! at some point, i get sick of everyone after a while, but every day i am so thankful for him, and can't believe how well he puts up with me!! i love you babe.

Anyway, that's it for now. Even this has been a pretty stressful time, we have both learned a lot, and been blessed hugely. Coolio.
blessings, gem

Update

Well, I know I get raging mad when people don't update their blogs frequently, and yet i'm realizing that i am one of those people. Right now 'raging' doesn't really look like a word to me, funny how that happens.
Anyhoo... i do admire those people who consistently post hilarious accounts of everyday occurances on their blogs, and i also admire those with lots and lots of pictures, but i do have two problems.

one, i simply have not been blessed with that witty humour one needs when writing a blog, and two, i don't have too many exciting things to take pictures of right now!!

as for the update, not too much to report on either! we are still in halifax, and one month later, also still unemployed. now, this is not really a good situation, as we are pretty much out of what money we did have, and we also are bored to tears. days off are nice, but usually only when you have days on in between. otherwise they just all look the same. so we've pretty much walked all around halifax, frequented all parks, window shopped in every window, gone to the library, and done everything else that is free, and now we would like to work!

looking back, if i did it again, i would rethink our strategy. both of us ideally wanted to work youth care jobs, and if not that, i would like to do some office admin work, if possible, monday to friday. i've never actually had a non-shift work job, and i think it would be a really nice thing to have weekends off. anyway, so we applied for these jobs first, then call centres were my next line of attack, and finally restaurants. i have served before, and had a really bad experience with a manager, so i was kind of scared to try it again. only now, all the restaurants have already hired for the summer anyway, so bad timing for that. so, a bazillion resumes and several false hopes later, still nothing. i guess wendy's-tim horton's is my next attack plan. is a degree worth absolutely nothing??

so, i'm not too sure what this month was for, what was it there to teach me? it certainly has been challenging, but we both feel that God does have some plan for us, and we are really seeking as to what that is. it has been hard, but often when we are at the end of ourselves and our resources, that is when we are free and open to what He is trying to tell us. i pray that is true for us, and hopefully we'll have better news next posting!!!

A grad and a citizen!!

Some pics from my grad weekend and trip home.......

Mercer, Me and LeBlanc.

All the gradumacators from the weekend, all spiffed up

My ex-roommate Candace and I

Joe's brother Steven and I chillaxing while the other boys fished. This was before he got stuck with a fish hook, so he was still smiling at this point!

A busy weekend it was, I became a graduate (Bachelor of Arts with major International Relations, minor Biology), and a Canadian citizen!! Exciting stuff, I know. Now I have to figure out what this useless degree can do for me!!Me with the RCMP officer, and the citizenship judge, we're pretty good buddies.

My beautiful grad picture which my ex-roommate Candace took of me! Just to clarify, she is my ex-roommate, but not my ex-friend, I love her!

Sandwich Cove

A couple of Sundays ago, we joined some people for a bit of a hike to Sandwich cove, and we scrambled across the rocks for a while, and wished it was warm enough to swim! Some nice pictures from the day......

Grrr.....

this thing won't let me post pictures again, i'm getting mad!!!

exciting weekend!

Well, it has been quite a while since I last posted, and mostly that has been because nothing much has in fact happened. This is the end of our third week in Halifax, and we are both still unemployed. I have come to the conclusion that all of the job advertisements are actually cruel jokes, and nobody really needs people to work for them. Anyway, this is the time when I suck it up and apply for some restaurant or retail jobs I guess. I have done this several times, and was really hoping to find some job with weekends off (which I've never found), but I guess it is not the end of the world! Hopefully something will work out soon!

So, besides that issue, we have had a fairly eventful time the last last few days.
On Friday, we headed to Sackville to see all of our friends, who were meeting there for graduation celebrations. So we had a great reunion, with some people who we haven't seen for a while, and the weather was SO beautiful. We had a barbeque, hung out on the deck in the evenings, and played frisbee for like four hours by the swan pond. It's nice to see Sackville looking so good, when usually we are only there for the cold winter. There were also some grad activities which we went to, including a 'prom', which sounds super cheesy, but was actually a lot of fun, I danced up a storm with the ladies, while joe stayed at home to watch a ball game.
The actual convocation was on monday, but we had to leave early and miss it, because I was becoming a canadian citizen! yes, that's right, i was still an immigrant until this week! I've been waiting for a long time, and the letter finally came to say that i had to write the citizenship test on the same day as my grad!!! it worked out alright though. on sunday we headed home, stopping in wallace for a few hours, joe went fishing again and caught a trout, and then had to remove a hook from his little brother's leg, which was not too nice, but both Joe and his brother did awesome. We arrived in CB, and hung out with the fam for a bit, and I wrote my test and took the oath, and we saw the whole carabin family in the mall, and I got to meet Elliot! and i hung out with mercer for a bit, so it was pretty fun!

When we got back to hali, it was thunderstorming and torrential rain, and the check engine light came on, so i was a bit nervous. it turned off again today though, so i feel a bit better about ignoring it. That night we also picked up my long-lost sister Naomi from the airport, so she's been around for the last couple of days, which has been nice to catch up. I didn't really see her after her india trip, so i've been seeing lots of pictures and chatting with her.

My parents are heading here this evening to bring naomi home tomorrow, so i'm hoping that we'll go out for dessert or something, i'm dying for some funnel cake!!!
pretty sure no one will read this, as it is a rather long and boring account, but this is the first time in a while that anything has actually happened!
a'ight, we're heading into this new week in a couple of days, optimistic about job finding, hopefully there will be some news next time!
signing out,
Gem

Pictures!

A couple of weeks ago, we headed back to Cape Breton to pack up some stuff that we have there, and we managed to fit in some fishing time (or napping time for me) while we were there. Here are some pics from the weekend. Joe and a mudsucker, looking frighteningly similar!

Me holding Joe's coffee and freezing my butt off in the meantime

Ava Ross, being SO cute!!!

She LOVES the sand box!!

Sarah and Abby, enjoying the sunshine!

New Haligonians

Well, I guess a lot has happened since I last posted on this blog.
We took a whole week to pack up our little apartment, it took a long time because we really had to get rid of everything that was not important to us, because we had to put most of our stuff in Joe's parent's attic, and there was not a whole lot of room! Plus everything had to fit through one of those little square attic holes, so it was quite a challenge! Our apartment now is furnished, and as we are planning on going away for a couple of years in the fall, we wanted to get everything out of the way. So it was an exhausting week packing and moving stuff to Wallace, and then finally moving ourselves to Halifax. It was a pretty tight squeeze, but we made here on Sunday night!
We have been spending the week so far just settling in, and getting used to finding our way around the city, and getting resumes ready and sending them out. Hopefully something will come out of that!!
We have had a couple of fun nights already, hanging out with my sister Em, and some of the Halifax people here. And we saw Lindsay and Hoon and baby Nick the day they came home from the hospital! They were very brave to have that many people over that soon!
We are still trying to get used to living in the city, we are right on Windsor street, so it is very loud sometimes, and there is construction right outside our window, so it is a little different from our basement hole in Sackville! Also we live in an apartment building with mostly old ladies I think, so that is pretty interesting, we've already had some encounters with the super, who thinks that we are party people for some reason! The heat is also cranked super high, and we can't control it, so the windows are wide open at all times!
Anyway, we didn't have internet for a while, but now it is up, so I'm sure it won't be long until the next update!!

This is Joe, enjoying his new toys: a lazyboy, and a playstation. I think he's in heaven right now.