the pics that go with the hugely long posting...

This weekend was a very emotional one, with cass's wedding, seeing all our friends again (and realizing how much i missed them), and packing up our house. my parents move out this weekend. we had such a blessed 13 1/2 years in this house, and i will miss the house and the farm so much. it will be hard not having a 'home' in cape breton anymore!

View of the barn

Lupins on the front lawn. they are the best ever, just as we are leaving!

We found some doll arms left over from an old doll my mum had when she was young. she actually packed the doll with no arms, and i thought it would be funny to hang them around the house like bad omens to 'welcome' the new people. they didn't last long, dad threw them in the garbage, and then my mum went scrounging to find them again and return them to the doll!

The Red Shoe. My dad trying to be as cool as Bono.

Cass and her beautiful usherettes; tina, naomi and melinda

The happy couple, rain and all!!

The wedding party

Cass and Alex with Alex's brother-in-law Lawrence and his wife Claire, it was really great to meet them, hopefully they will come to visit again!

grrrrr......

stupid blogger won't let me post pics in that huge post.
probably because it is too long..................

the trip home

ok! so, i'ts been a while since i posted, and there are a lot of things to catch up on, so i guess i'll try and do that without being really long and boring..... i guess it all started last wednesday.......

wednesday: emily and i travelled up to CB with the wonderful sarah and naomi barrett. thanks so much for the ride guys, naomi only cried a little bit at the end!!! during that time however, i tried to call my dad's cell to come and get him to meet us at Vi's, and for some reason, i dialed stephen fenton's phone number. weird. i don't know how that happened. the conversation went something like this:
steve: "hello?"
me: "finlay? why do you have the phone? dad is supposed to pick us up, and i can't get a hold of him!"
steve: (muffled) "hjkjhsgedafgeddgg." (baby naomi is screaming at this point, and i can't hear)
me: "i can't hear you! i need dad, he is supposed to pick us up!"
steve: (muffled) "hwergasjliuggg."
me: "finlay! i can't hear what you are saying, but tell dad to pick us up!"
steve: "this is stephen fenton"
me: "stephen fenton??!!! oh......hi! how are you?!"
steve: "fine thanks."
me: "why do you have my dad's cell phone?"
steve: "i don't, you called me at home in PEI"
me: "oh."
so, we finally arrived at home, and em and i spent the day helping dad pack up our stuff for the big move out of the farm, which actually happens today and tomorrow. naomi arrived that night.

thursday: helped pack up the house again, and then dropped finlay off for his exam at school and us girls went to the beach for a couple of hours....and got really burnt. bad idea. then mum and dad took us out to the red shoe for supper, which was a great time. then us girls rushed up to margaree, for cass' lingerie shower! it was pretty interesting, i have some good pics, but i can't post them yet! cass's new grandmother was hilarious!! anyway, it was SO good to see cass and susan maceachern and dorothy and sarah, all the 'margaree' girls together again. then we went swimming at night, some of us in our underwear (caroline!) but i promised not to post pictures, haha!!!! then we chillaxed as cass got her toenails painted and we watched the friends wedding episodes. i can't even describe how awesome it was to be at home, and it's been about 6 years since we all were around at the same time, it felt so good to be together.

friday: went and helped decorate the hall for cass' wedding. it was held in the same place mine was, so i was glad to be able to help figure out where the tables and stuff go, and to help with the decorations. i love decorating for things! maybe i'll be a wedding planner when i grow up!!
then finlay and i had to drive down to port hawkesbury to drop something off for dad, and then right up to sydney we went, to see Lifesupport, at a ISCF thing that jacki put on. that was awesome of course, but i wish joe could have been there! he came up with jamin and arrived around 11, but we still decided to go to dairy queen and hang out for a little while with the peeps, it was so good to see them again! if they come to a venue near you, check them out, you will be blessed!!!

saturday: got ready for the wedding, curled my hair and everything. not much point though, 'cause it rained, and got ruined in about 3 minutes!!! i went up early, 'cause i was taking pics of alex and the boys as they got ready. naomi and i went up to cass's for a bit first, and finished getting ready with all the girls. then i headed over to the cabin, and got some good shots of the boys, again, i'll have to post them later. i took pics at the ceremony too, and after, and even though it rained, it was still a BEAUTIFUL wedding. cass and alex and the wedding party looked amazing, and all of us girls were involved some way, either ushering, reading, singing or taking pictures, so it really was awesome. and i have to say, i think it was my favourite wedding, next to my own of course! it meant so much to see such a good friend of mine find someone like alex. they are so in love, and we all just worshipped God throughout the ceremony, it was so beautiful. he is an awesome guy, and i am so happy for her.
we got some good pics even in the rain, on porches and with umbrellas, and then off to the reception, which was a lot of fun, even though i didn't get the chance to talk to everyone i wanted to, 'cause i was running around so much.

sunday: up to church in the am, which was awesome, the worship was great. then to ran and shelley's for a bbq, off to check out an AMAZING old house in margaree (my parents said it is too much work for them though, not what they were looking for.) it's what i'm looking for though!! seven bedrooms! it is beautiful, but in very bad shape! i was in love at first sight, if only i had money!!! then said goodbye to cass and alex and everyone else and headed home. we took tina, cass' roommate from the logos (germany) to hali with us, it was awesome to get to know her, we were sad that she had to leave the next day.

monday: I STARTED MY JOB!!!! woo hoo! i got the call at the end of last week, it is a job with the temp agency i signed up with a while ago. for a month at least, but maybe the whole summer. the stuff i'm doing (inventory, database updating, filing, reception) is pretty monotonous, but i am very busy and that is all i care about! there is nothing worse than having nothing to do at a job. the people are nice too, and it is mon-fri 8:00-5:00, so that is awesome, i'm very happy to be working!

anyway, i think that is all my news! i'll post a better post next time, and shorter, but there was too much to catch up with this weekend!!!
later gators!!!
p.s. all the wedding pics were taken by em.

bummer.

i just talked to the guy again, about the daycamp job. he just found out that we have to be returning students. he wanted to hire me, and tried to get his bosses to let me, but it was a no-go.
so now i have nothing, no prospects, no maybes, and i don't even know where to apply. either myself or naomi or emily have applied to everything in halifax, and nothing is biting.
happy birthday to me.

It's my birfday!!!!

Yes, it's true..... today is my birfday. I am 24!! wow. for some reason that sounds way more grown up to me than 23. like i should have a real job now, and be on my way....somewhere. oh well, i was never one to think about settling down for a long time, in fact i still CANNOT BELIEVE that i'm married. how did that happen? i have no clue. anyway, i guess i'm grown up.
so, my parents got home from scotland last night, they landed in the middle of the hurricane, it was craziness. it was SO windy, and the pilot took a few tries to land. which was ok with us, 'cause we were way late to pick them up. and poor joe has to whippersnip in all of this weather, it was seriously so bad yesterday, and he was outside from 6:30-5:00 in it, completely drenched and covered in grass!! the poor man.
anyway, my parents brought CANDY home for us!! we love british candy, so much more than canadian candy. we always get it in our stockings at christmas, usually from pete's frootique, but if anyone goes back to the UK, they always have to bring candy back. i also got a cool skirt and a scarf for my b-day. and my wonderful sister naomi made me a HUGE icecream cake, so my sweet tooth is satisfied for a while.
The weather today is AWESOME!!!!!! so beautiful, i want to go the beach,but no one will go with me. hopefully tomorrow, once joe is off work at noon. i LOVE the beach. that would make a great weekend!
i'm still waiting to hear about this job, it is driving me nuts! i really hope it works out!
anyway, i'm off to enjoy the sunshine i think, have a great weekend everyone!

more update!!

well, last week, someone i met at a bible study and talked to for about 30 seconds gave me the phone number of a guy. apparently this guy was running a day camp and needed staff. so at the time she gave me this phone number, it was looking that another job i had applied for was going to happen, so i didn't do anything about it.
so tonight, i remembered this number and dug it out of a purse. just a number, with the name 'jerome' beside it. so i call this guy, and i'm like 'i don't know you, but this girl who i also don't know, gave me your number and said that maybe you have a camp and needed people, but i really don't know anything else about it'! anyway..... he runs a daycamp here, and needs staff, and it is an 8-4 job, which i am desperate to get, the pay is decent, and it is with KIDS at a CAMP, doing FUN stuff, which i would be super excited about. so, he said he is probably hiring this week, but this girl had already mentioned me to him, and he was the one who made hiring decisions. i was like 'PLEASE hire me, i want to work at a camp SO bad!!' and he said he would see what he could do. so he gave me his email address to send my resume to, and turns out he is from MTA!! was in some of the same classes as me!! i probably know his face for sure, everyone knows everyone else there. so we chatted for a bit, and it sounds good...
this blogging is my prayer experiment. i mean, i pray by myself, but i figured if i put it all out there on the net, i can't settle for something less without being accountable, right. so i think this is it! i really do. i would LOVE this job, so i'm praying it works out, i am believing that it will!
i am so excited right now.....

update

Ok, so today I really wanted to follow God and hear from Him, and do what he told me to do, and wait and see...
so, i cleaned (God didn't tell me to do this, but i figure since cleanliness is next to godliness, i should do it, haha!), and then i baked cookies, and i took some to a lady who lives next door who has polio i think, she can't walk very well. so i introduced myself (about 6 weeks late!) and gave her the cookies. just to do that small little thing, i was terrified, but i really want to start living not just absorbed in myself. i know it means not really anything, but she has really been on my heart the last couple of weeks, so I finally took a step. hopefully more will come out of this, i'm kind of excited.
then, i went to my Smitty's interview. The boss there was SO nice, we talked for like 15 minutes, and he was asking all about me. then he said "do you really WANT to work this job? like not 'do you want a job', or 'do you think you can do this', but is this what you really WANT to do? because we only want you if you really want to be a waitress, and you think that you would love coming to work to do that. We will train you and help you in any way you can, but the only thing we ask of you is integrity. do you know what that is?" (me: yes, i know what that is), "I'm not sure you really want to do this as a job, but if you do, give us a call tomorrow"
So: it may not seem like much when i write this down, but i firmly believe that was from God. really. no, i have absolutely no desire to be a waitress at Smitty's, although if i were to waitress somewhere, i would way rather do it under a boss like him than any other boss i've worked for!
anyway, i'll keep the updates coming in my search for a meaningful life :)

A'ight....
so i haven't posted anything new in the past little while, because honestly i was running out of things to post. or rather, my life is so exciting i simply can't keep up with it all, that's more like it , haha!
anyway, what has been happening recently? me and joe and em were supposed to go to PEI this weekend to the wedding of the lovely christine and micah, but unfortunately, circumstances intervened which made it impossible, but we are super sad that we missed it, and hope everyone had a great time. i'm pretty sure they don't read this, but congratulations anyway!!

it also has rained CONSTANTLY for the last week, like torrential downpours, which severely put dampers on our camping and canoeing plans, or even just sitting outside in the park! hopefully someday we will get to go!!! poor joe has to mow lawns and whipper snip in the weather, he gets home drenched every day, so i'm praying for sunshine!!

i guess the weekend was actually pretty uneventful, but it was nice for joe to be home, and we got to hang out a bit, and we saw lindsay and hoon and the baby, and sandra, sarah b., alicia, and my sisters of course. the boys went for pizza, so we had some good girl time when they were gone, which made me realize that it's been a long time since i did that, so we made plans to do it again soon!

so probably the main reason why i have not posted much recently is because i (still) don't have a job, yes, i think this is coming into the seventh week we have been in hali, and still nothing. and i mean absolutely nothing. except.... i have an interview at smitty's today. however..... i think there is more for me. i seriously do, and i've been waiting for it. of course, i feel terribly guilty for not contributing to the financial side of things, and i hate not having a job, but i really feel that God is using this time for me to find some things out about myself, and to discover what i actually want to do, and where my spot is in this world. so i've been doing some soul-searching, and some bible searching. i've just had this feeling the whole time. not that i'm always confident about it, these feelings are usually interspersed with bouts of crying and doubt, but it's coming :)
also, in the last month, at various church services and bible studies and readings, joe and i have both heard the verse " For I know the plans I have for you," says the LORD. "They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope" (Jeremiah 29:11) and it continues on after that too. well, we have probably heard it 15 times, so i think God is trying to tell us something!! it was the verse given to my parents when they packed up and moved to canada, and while we know that it is not financial prospering that we are promised, it is great hope for the future.
well, yesterday in church, that verse was used again, so joe and i were smirking about it, because it has come up SO often, and the pastor came up to us after church to talk to us. he asked if we had found jobs yet, and we told him that joe had, and that i had an interview at smittys today. he asked me if that was what i wanted to do, and i answered with a direct 'no'. i have zero desire to waitress. so then he said that he felt God was telling us just to ask him for what we want. for what i want to do. just ask, and wait, and that he has something for me that i was designed to do, something that i will enjoy, somewhere that he wants me to be. just to ask for what i want. so i'm trying to hold back the tears as he is talking, because that is exactly how i feel. i hand out resumes right, left and center whenever i hear something is open, but i have no desire to work in most of these places. I just KNOW that there is something just for ME. that is really hard to hold onto when we are very tight financially, and it's been seven weeks, but i just know it. and i understand that jobs have to get done, and someone has to do even the crappiest job, but i don't care about that. if God tells me to work as a garbage collector, then i will work happily as a garbage collector, because i know that is MY PLACE. however, i haven't found that yet, or had a peace about any job, so i'm still waiting. at this point, i don't care anymore what people think, or if i feel bad. God will take care of our finances, and we will give me a job that i was made to do. i'm confident of that...
so, i'll keep you updated :)

Wedding pics

Okay, another warning coming up here: this is a series of pictures from my wedding, and there are i think 25 of them, so if you have dial up, i probably wouldn't even bother. these took me FOREVER to put up, but i'm unemployed, so i have the time! the wedding was 9 months ago, but i figured most of you bloggers haven't seen any pictures, so here they are!!! i was married in margaree, on the farm of ranald and shelley ross, with a reception at the southwest hall. Joe surprised me with a song he wrote, and my roommate at MTA fiona mcnab, and robbie reid did the music, which was so great. pink and orange were my colours, although i have no idea why, 'cause i don't wear either of those colours, and i'm pretty sure my bridesmaids hated me for it, but i loved them!!!!

enjoy!

p.s. i know that it is SO annoying when pictures are sideways, but for some reason, i couldn't get these ones rotated. please don't hate me! also, they are really dark on this, especially the black and white ones, sorry you can't see them better.

Me on my porch

Getting ready before we headed off to the wedding

Can we say 'Red neck woman'??!!!

Me and my mum and dad in my backyard

Me showing off my flowers.

wedding pics

Lake Ainslie

Me and the kids: L-R: Abby Morrison, Carey Morrison, Caleb Ross, Eilidh Ross, Sarah Ross and Ainsley Ross. SO cute!!

Me and Ava Ross, the littlest flowergirl!!

All of the girls and the kids

My daddy drove us in on his school bus!!! And all the girls were singing 'going to the chapel', at the top of their lungs when we pulled up, it was hilarious!

wedding pics

Me and my daddy

It was a beautiful day in big interval, and the wedding was a 'bring your own lawn chair' event!

The vows

Us chillaxing while Stephen Fenton spoke, I think. Note the fancy chairs we have!!

It's all over!!

wedding pics

My family

Joe's family

On the hay bales at the wedding site

My favourite picture

The guys strike some modelling poses

wedding pics

The wedding party: there are way more girls, because joe had his friend sally standing with him, and his friend jason was supposed to be there, but he was in an accident and broke his neck and couldn't come, we missed him there. He's ok now though.

This is: Sally, Emily (sis), Jacki Mercer, Brad (from MTA), Naomi (sis), me, Joe, sarah fenton, finlay (bro), Jane (fromMTA), Scottie (Joe's bro)

Fake laugh.

Joe hated this picture.

Awww!

All the party, on the portree bridge!!

Wedding pics

First Dance- God Bless the Broken Road- Rascal Flatts (Joe's a country fan!)

The cupcake tree, cupcakes made by me and my sisters, stand by joe and mum

Head table- we didn't decorate the hall, except for table settings and the trees. Less hassle!

The dance: we started off with a good ole' scottish ceilidh, and moved to a regular dance later. So fun!

My cousins Tim and Adrian wore their kilts, this is Naomi and Adrian